Dear AuntMinnie Member,
The massive trove of data on Medicare payments to physicians includes information on how much specific radiologists received from the federal healthcare system.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unleashed a storm of controversy within healthcare on Tuesday when it released data on 2012 Medicare payments. But whether you like it or not, the genie is out of the bottle and unlikely to go back in.
Analysis of the data revealed that radiology ranks No. 7 on the list of top 10 specialties with the highest Medicare payments. Taking the long view, it's probably a good thing the specialty didn't rank higher, at least if you believe that a higher profile might invite more efforts to cut payments for medical imaging scans.
Read more about the data -- including a list of the top radiologists by Medicare payments -- by clicking here, or visit our Imaging Leaders Digital Community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Benefits of SGR patch
While you're in the community, be sure to check out a new story on the potential benefits of the latest "patch" to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.
It's become de rigueur to criticize the annual SGR effort as a political exercise in kicking the can down the road rather than making tough choices to permanently fix the flawed formula for determining Medicare payments to physicians. But this year's patch does include several items that have long been on radiology's legislative wish list.
For example, the legislation includes provisions requiring the use of appropriateness criteria for ordering advanced imaging exams, and it requires the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reveal the methodology it used to establish the multiple procedure payment reduction in 2012 -- a move that still rankles radiology.
But it also includes a stick designed to force imaging providers to improve their management of radiation dose. Find out how it will work by clicking here.
MRI reveals football's toll
Another topic of recent controversy is American football, specifically the toll it's taking on the mental health of athletes. A new study presented this week at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting presents eye-opening evidence of the sport's effects on the young people who play it.
Researchers mounted sensors inside the helmets of 27 high school football players in North Carolina to record the impacts they sustained during a single football season. They then conducted MRI scans to correlate impacts with anatomical brain changes between the start and the end of the season.
The researchers discovered changes in white-matter integrity that correlated with the cumulative impact of hits to the head -- with the players sustaining an average of more than 400 impacts in a season. Read more about this surprising study by clicking here, or visit our MRI Digital Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
