Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Our coverage of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) two-day hearing on healthcare apps for mobile devices continues this week in our Healthcare IT Digital Community.
The second day of the workshop focused on clinical decision-support (CDS) software, an emerging field covering technology that's designed to help physicians make smarter patient-management decisions. While CDS software is an increasingly important tool for reducing unnecessary utilization, regulating CDS apps presents a thorny regulatory problem for the FDA.
Find out what some of the issues are by clicking here. And for coverage of the first day of the hearings, just click here.
RSNA Image Share
In other news, RSNA has been boosting the public profile of Image Share, the society's project to build a digital image-sharing network that could ultimately replace CDs as a medium for exchanging patient images.
PACS experts have long wanted a better vehicle than CDs for image exchange, but building an interoperable Internet-based network that can be used seamlessly by any healthcare facility across the country is a daunting task, according to an article in our PACS Digital Community by senior editor Erik L. Ridley. Fortunately, there is a successful precedent for Image Share: the rollout of the DICOM 3.0 standard in the 1990s, which laid the foundation for radiology's digital image management revolution.
Learn more about Image Share and the changes it could bring by clicking here, or visit the PACS Digital Community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
Calif. breast density bill advances
Finally, the California state Legislature this week passed a bill that would require physicians to notify women if they have dense breast tissue, which can confound standard x-ray mammography images and hinder breast screening.
The bill is now ready for the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown. If it does become law, how will it affect efforts in other states? Read the story by clicking here.
