Archive for January 2022
AHIP and BCBS Association File Amicus Briefs in Support of the No Surprises Act
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), two groups representing payers, submitted amicus briefs backing the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) against a lawsuit filed by the Texas Medical Association, which take exception to portions of the No Surprises Act. The Texas Medical Association brought a suit…
Read MoreOutside Threats to the Image-Guided Bone Pain Relief Market
Radiology dominates the rapidly increasing market for image-guided ablation for bone pain, most often caused by cancer that has metastasized to the bones. Upwards of 80% of metastatic breast, lung, and prostate cancers develop osseous metastases as the patient’s cancer spreads to the bones. Over three-quarters of these patients develop pain. Mona Ranade, MD, an…
Read MoreDiagnostic Radiology Experienced 44% Decline in Medicare Reimbursement over Last 10 Years
Diagnostic radiology has experienced a 44% Medicare reimbursement reduction over the past 10 years. Medicare reimbursements for diagnostic radiology began declining with the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2006. Recent research led by Derrek Schartz, MD of the Department of Imaging Sciences at the University of Rochester, showed that adjusting for inflation…
Read MoreOmicron’s Impact on PET-CT Scans
The Omicron variant may be responsible for a new FDG PET/CT uptake pattern discovered early this year. The Society for Nuclear Imaging and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) COVID-19 Task Force issued a news release on January 14, 2022, recommending that radiologists consider a previously undetected FDG PET/CT pattern may be associated with the Omicron variant of…
Read MoreStudy Shows CT Screening Reduces Lung Cancer Deaths
Recent research published in JAMA Network Open confirms that CT lung cancer scanning reduces lung cancer deaths. A retrospective study examined the records of 312,382 patients from the SEER program diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer who received CT lung scans between 2006 and 2016. The study confirmed that patients with early-stage disease experience improved…
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