Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
The new year has started, and with it comes the implementation of a new Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Women's imaging advocates say this MPFS is particularly bad for breast imaging, due to drastic reimbursement cuts that could block women's access to breast interventions.
In this issue's Insider Exclusive, we examine the cuts as they pertain to stereotactic breast biopsy. The 2014 MPFS slashes reimbursement for these procedures, which could lead to a revival of open surgical biopsy as women's health centers shun procedures for which they can't be adequately paid. Click here to learn more.
After you've finished reading our Insider Exclusive, find out what else is going on in the Women's Imaging Digital Community:
- Get the latest on the breast cancer screening mammography controversy -- and why some researchers say the debate is artificial.
- Discover why radiologists are equally comfortable with handheld and whole-breast ultrasound.
- Find out why there's been a decrease in breast imaging utilization.
- Read what Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center researchers have to say about sonographers performing screening ultrasound instead of radiologists.
- Learn how quantitative 3D image analysis of ductal carcinoma in situ on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI could shed light on the prognosis of these often mysterious lesions.
As always, if you have a comment, report, or article idea to share about any aspect of women's imaging, I invite you to contact me.
