There is now more evidence that physicians shouldn't rush to use million-dollar scanners to look for heart disease: Doctors using 64-slice CT scans often identify blockages in the arteries around the heart when no blockages are actually present, according to a study of 360 patients. The findings are a troubling sign for a test that costs hundreds of dollars and subjects the patient to a high dose of radiation, according to this item from the Wall Street Journal Health Blog.
People who have spotty Medicaid coverage are more than three times likelier than those who maintain continuous coverage to be hospitalized for an illness that could have been managed outside the hospital with doctors' visits and medication, according to a study. The findings call into question the practice of having Medicaid recipients re-qualify every few months for benefits, experts said, suggesting that constant re-qualifications may be more costly in the end.
Supporters of President-elect Barack Obama will be holding house parties to discuss ways of fixing the healthcare system over the next two weeks, and they are envisioned as a way to make good on Obama's commitment to "healthcare reform that comes from the ground up." Now some of the biggest stakeholders in the healthcare industry may get involved: The health insurance industry is encouraging its employees and satisfied customers to attend. A trade group representing some of the nation's largest healthcare businesses is organizing several meetings. And the American Medical Association and other medical societies are encouraging doctors to get involved.
CyberKnife is a new but fast-growing radiation treatment for prostate cancer, and the chief selling point is that CyberKnife treatments take five days instead of the eight weeks for conventional prostate cancer radiation. But as it turns out, Medicare pays for the CyberKnife treatments in 33 states—but not in 17 others. The disparities result from a policy principl in which officials in Washington leave many reimbursement decisions to the discretion of 15 regional contractors around the country.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield has revised its 2009 fee structure for non-emergency surgery by out-of-network doctors. In response to outraged workers who have the Blues standard option, and troubled members of Congress, the company announced that it will pay 70% of the fee it allows for such procedures, leaving the patients responsible for 30%, plus any difference between the allowed amount and the actual charge. The 30% share amounts to a five-percentage-point increase from the existing plan and is consistent with other out-of-network fees for the coming year.
New research from the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey's healthcare practice tries to shed light why healthcare costs so much more here than in comparable countries. The research indicates same-day hospital care and visits to physicians' offices contribute the most to the overall growth in spending for outpatient care.
The e-Health 2009: Leadership in Action conference is scheduled for May 31 to June 3, 2009 in Québec City, Canada. Some themes of the conference include access and new models of care, and balancing workforce and technology, according to the official site.
Konica Minolta Medical Imaging introduced the FlexDR, an ergonomic, upright, flat panel digital radiography system at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The FDA-cleared FlexDR features an Amorphous Silicon and Cesium Iodide receptor that boasts ultra-high detective quantum efficiency for high-quality images even with minimum X-ray exposure, according to a release.
Despite financial stresses, it seems that most hospitals are determined to go ahead with critical IT projects like EMRs, computerized provider order entry systems, and medication management platforms, according to a new study by the American Hospital Association, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. The study surveyed 144 chief information officers and 27 chief financial offices and VPs of finance at hospitals.
The annual list includes providers of PACS, radiology systems, EMRs, cardiology systems, and application hosting. In addition to recognizing the Best in KLAS honorees, the 2008 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards report also highlights the highest-performing healthcare vendors across all market segments.
