Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Some surprising findings were published this week on U.S. radiologist salaries in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers from Harvard Medical School found that female radiologists at two dozen public medical schools were paid essentially the same as their male counterparts.
What's more, radiology was the only medical specialty that achieved salary gender equity, the authors noted. Most specialties saw adjusted salary differentials that ranged from 3% for family medicine to 11% for orthopedic surgery.
The findings are especially surprising given recent studies indicating that fewer female medical students have been picking radiology as a career compared to other specialties. Get the rest of the story by clicking here for an article in our Imaging Leaders Community.
While you're in the community, be sure to check out our new article on recently released Medicare payment rates for outpatient imaging in 2017. The proposed new rates include some cuts for diagnostic radiology, including a 20% cut in payments for analog x-ray studies. Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Will AI take radiologists' jobs?
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) for medical imaging applications has many radiologists wondering if someday a machine will be doing their job. But radiologists shouldn't worry, according to Dr. Eliot Siegel of the University of Maryland.
In a talk at the recent Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) meeting, Dr. Siegel talked about the hype regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning, but also about how one flavor of AI -- computer-aided detection (CAD) -- hasn't made more progress in the real world.
Many of the AI applications being developed now are a different animal than CAD, but there are still serious limitations that will prevent machines from taking doctors' jobs for many years to come -- if ever. Read more by clicking here for an article in our Imaging Informatics Community.
MPI and calcium scores
Finally, visit our Molecular Imaging Community for an article on new research indicating that a very low calcium score doesn't necessarily mean an individual is out of the woods when it comes to the risk of a positive SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) scan. You'll find that story by clicking here, or by going to molecular.auntminnie.com.
