Dear AuntMinnie Member,
It's been called the largest healthcare fraud investigation in the history of San Diego County, and it wrapped up this week with an imaging center manager getting a five-year prison term.
Gonzalo Paredes received the sentence on June 14 after being convicted of 51 counts of healthcare fraud in connection with Operation Backlash, an investigation into payments for patient referrals in Southern California. Our article on the sentence was the most-viewed story for the past week.
Mr. Paredes was the office manager for Advanced Radiology, an imaging center operated by Dr. Ronald Grusd, a radiologist who for his part was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year. State and federal investigators charged that the two ran a scam paying chiropractors for patient referrals to their imaging center for MRI scans. They say that the sentencing of Mr. Paredes marks the conclusion of the investigation.
Learn more about the story by visiting our MRI Community.
Breast MRI finds cancer early
Breast MRI is an incredibly powerful technology for detecting cancer, but clinicians have had difficulty balancing its prognostic ability with the modality's higher cost, compared with screening mammography. A new study could tip the balance, however.
Researchers from the Netherlands used breast MRI to screen women with a family history of breast cancer but no genetic predisposition for the disease and compared the results with mammography. Breast MRI indeed detected more cancers and at an earlier stage. But this enhanced detection came at a price: more false positives, which could lead to higher workup costs.
Other important stories in our Women's Imaging Community this week include articles on using computer-aided detection to improve interpretation of automated breast ultrasound for novice readers and also using artificial intelligence to improve diagnostic performance in mammography.
Tweet chat on Tuesday
Be sure to be on Twitter at 7 p.m. EDT/4 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, June 25, when we are hosting the sixth and final tweet chat in our 6 Steps to Radiology series for medical students applying to radiology residency. Radiology educators Dr. Nupur Verma, Dr. Tan Lucien Mohammed, and others will be on hand to answer questions about how to approach the intern year. Log in to Twitter and look up the hashtag #6StepsToRads, and view article No. 6 on AuntMinnie.com.
