Economic Motivation Could Underlie Excess Referrals For Diagnostic Imaging

Diagnostic imaging has been one of the fastest growing areas of health care in recent years. Some of that increase can be attributed to the availability of improved imaging studies, but whether some imaging utilization may be inappropriate has been an issue of concern. Now a study from the Institute for Technology Assessment in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Radiology finds that physicians who consistently refer patients to themselves or members of their own specialty for imaging studies, rather than to radiologists, are more likely to order such studies for a variety of medical conditions. The results suggest that economic motivation could underlie some of the excess referrals.

"It's looking like a significant part of the increase in imaging utilization is due to self- and same specialty referral," says G. Scott Gazelle, MD, MPH, PhD, director of the Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study being published in the November issue of Radiology. "We need to have some mechanism in place to control this sort of inappropriate utilization of imaging."

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IMV Rates Ge First In X-Ray Cardiology & Angiography Overall Oem Service Performance

GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wis., announced that it has been rated first among vendors in Overall OEM Service Performance for X-Ray Cardiology & Angiography service, according to IMV ServiceTrak, a leading independent third-party research firm. GE Cardiovascular Service was top ranked in 12 additional X-Ray Cardiology categories including OEM Service Follow-up, Timeliness of Arrival On-Site and shared the #1 ranking for Service Performance Related to Charge.

"Service is-and has always been-- as important to us as it is to the customers who depend on us," said Amy Lazarus, General Manager of GE's cardiovascular services unit. "Though it's nice to be recognized for the work we do, the true reward is in the satisfaction we get from our customers every day."

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ARRS To Launch New Continuing Education Program For Radiologic Technologists

ARRS will launch Continuing Education for Radiologic Technologists (CERT) in January 2008, offering ARRT Category A credit in the topic areas needed most, including CT, mammography and MRI.

Adapted from selected American Journal of Roentgenology content by and for radiologic technologists, CERTwill be available free for ARRS technologist members and for a subscription fee for nonmembers.

Every month, a new CERT lesson will be available on the ARRS Website, allowing radiologic technologists convenient 24/7 access to CE credits.

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Project Renewal Launches the ScanVan, Nation's First Mobile Mammography/Radiology Clinic, To Serve Poor and Homeless of New York City

New York (PRWEB)

Project Renewal, a not-for-profit organization uniquely dedicated to providing everything New York's homeless population needs to move from the street to healthy independent living, today announced the official launch of the ScanVan, the nation's first mobile mammography/ radiology clinic. ScanVan is the first and only mobile clinic that provides mammograms to screen for breast cancer and chest x-rays to screen for tuberculosis.

The 40-foot, ScanVan is staffed with three trained medical professionals and outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including a new $183,000 Canon digital x-ray unit for chest x-rays and tuberculosis screening and the top-of-the-line $68,000 GE Performa unit specifically designed for administering mobile mammograms to screen for cancer.

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New 5MP Mammography Display Lowers Costs, Improves Quality Control

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB)

The newest medical 5MP LCD display for mammography, Totoku's ME551i2, is now shipping from Medical Displays for Less. This is the first FDA cleared 5MP display with a list price under $10,000. Time saving calibration software is included that contains quality control procedures including those defined by the AAPM's Task Group 18.

The Totoku ME551i2 is FDA 510(k) cleared as a "digital mammography LCD display." It is a 21.3-inch, 5 mega pixel, DICOM-calibrated diagnostic display with an 11.9-bit grayscale palette and 750cd/m² brightness. To realize a smoother and more precise grayscale display, the ME551i2 can simultaneously display 2048 shades of gray (11-bit).

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FDA Clears Biospace Med's Revolutionary Low Dose Xray Imager

Biospace med announced that it has received 510k clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market EOS, a new digital Xray imager in the United States for 2D imaging use.

EOS 2D|3D technology is part of a total solution to orthopedic imaging allowing images to be obtained with a low dose of radiation and is capable of long length digital imaging, permitting full-body, uninterrupted digital imaging with a single scan. Information submitted to FDA in support of Biospace med's marketing application demonstrated up to 10 times reduction in dose when compared with commercially available film systems -- without compromising image quality.

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Could This Signal The End For Dental X-rays?

Dental x-rays could be a thing of the past thanks to a new knowledge transfer partnership between the University of Abertay Dundee and pioneering research firm IDMoS.

A team of scientists from the university's SIMBIOS (Scottish Informatics and Mathematics Biology and Statistics) Centre will use sophisticated CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) scanning equipment to verify that the company's newly developed equipment for detecting dental cavities works.

Chair of the Environmental Sciences School, Professor Iain Young said: "IDMoS have developed a non-invasive method of checking teeth for cavities.

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X-ray virtual colonoscopy may be widely available soon

NEW YORK -- Having an X-ray to look for signs of colon cancer may soon be an option for those who dread the traditional scope exam.

Two of the largest studies yet of "virtual colonoscopy" show the experimental technique works just as well at spotting potentially cancerous growths as the more invasive method. It's also quicker and cheaper.

The X-rays can help sort out who really needs the full exam and removal of suspicious growths, called polyps. In one study, only 8 percent of patients had to have follow-up traditional colonoscopies, which are done under sedation and carry a small risk of puncturing the bowel.

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3-D x-ray scanner makes spinal operations safer

A NEW three-dimensional imaging scanner has made spinal operations safer for patients of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Called the O-Arm, the machine takes approximately 400 pictures in 30 seconds to construct an image of the spine that helps doctors insert implants, rods and screws more accurately during operations.

Spine surgeons at the hospital have been using the new device, which cost about US$1 million (S$1.48 million), since March. Some 50 spinal operations have been performed using it.

The scanner is made up of a computerised navigation system and a donut-shaped telescoping gantry which can take pictures of the patient's spine over 360 degrees.

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