Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Who "owns" medical images: patients or the imaging facilities where they were acquired? To radiology professionals, the answer is obvious (hint -- the facility does), but you might be surprised to hear that many patients believe their images belong to them.
PACS expert Dr. Eliot Siegel addressed this topic and other medicolegal concerns in imaging informatics yesterday at the New York Medical Imaging Informatics Symposium, and Senior Editor Erik L. Ridley was on hand to cover the talk for our Imaging Informatics Community.
In addition to believing they own their images, many patients also think their images can't be used for other purposes without their consent. It's not just an academic issue -- it affects how hospitals and imaging centers should manage images going forward, Dr. Siegel advised.
Learn more about this issue -- as well as why Dr. Siegel believes that lossy image compression is being underutilized -- by clicking here.
Will clinicians order CT lung screening?
Now that Medicare reimbursement is here for CT lung cancer screening, will clinicians actually refer patients for the scans?
That question is the subject of an article in our CT Community, based on the results of a survey performed by researchers from Boston University and various U.S. Veterans Affairs medical centers.
The researchers surveyed nearly 300 lung physicians, asking them if and when they would refer a patient for a CT lung cancer screening exam. They compared their answers with national guidelines for CT screening to see how well they stacked up.
While just over half would refer patients appropriately, a substantial minority of respondents gave answers that were outside the guidelines. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our CT Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
New Medicare modifiers
Finally, visit our Imaging Leaders Community to learn how to use the new -X{EPSU} modifiers, in an article by coding expert Jeff Majchrzak of Panacea Healthcare Solutions.
