Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Radiology's going to pay a heavy price for the "fix" to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula announced earlier this month, with $800 million in cuts to Medicare reimbursement for advanced imaging services. The development begs the question, how did this happen?
We try to provide some insight with a new article in our Imaging Leaders Digital Community by associate editor Kate Madden Yee. The article reveals a "legislative process gone awry," in which years of careful work by organizations representing radiology's interests in Washington, DC, are frequently swept away in a spasm of late-night political brinksmanship.
Read more about the "fix" and its potential political impact by clicking here, or visit the community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Stage 3 MU comments
Another new initiative by the U.S. government that's getting mixed reviews is its call for comments on stage 3 of the meaningful use (MU) program to spur adoption of healthcare IT. The U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) asked for comments in November, and this week was the deadline for interested parties to respond.
The ONC got an earful. Many of the medical societies that chose to respond said the government is moving too fast with the program, and ought to step back and assess the effectiveness of stages 1 and 2 before it goes any further. Read more by clicking here, or visit our Healthcare IT Digital Community at healthcareit.auntminnie.com.
In related news, a recent analysis found that meaningful use could be having a meaningful effect on healthcare IT implementation. Read about that by clicking here.
More good news for tomo
The good news just keeps coming for digital breast tomosynthesis. Yet another new study -- this time in the January issue of Radiology -- found that the technology improves the sensitivity of breast screening while reducing recalls and false positives. Find out by how much by clicking here, or visit our Women's Imaging Digital Community at women.auntminnie.com.
