MEDICAL IMAGING RESOURCES: Medical Imaging News

Managed Medical Imaging (MMI) updates this page with news about medical imaging technology and the medical imaging industry.  Because there are many medical imaging news Web sites, we use this page to mainly highlight Florida medical imaging news items:
 

FLORIDA MEDICAL IMAGING NEWS:

Below are some Florida medical imaging news items.  We update these periodically but most articles can be found above in the MMI Facebook Page January 26th, 2011 - Ziehm Imaging moves offices from Riverside to Orlando   Download story podcast Ziehm Imaging Inc., a company that makes electronic imaging equipment used in surgeries and other medical procedures, has closed its North American corporate headquarters in Riverside and moved all its administrative operations to Florida. - Full Article     Nov. 18th, 2010 — Carestream Mammography CR receives FDA Approval Carestream Health has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its computed radiography system for mammography. The company has begun commercial distribution of this mammography CR system in the U.S.  - Full Article   May 5th, 2010 - GAO Report Leads Senators to Urge Medicare Claims Reform DotMed Magaizine article reports that, following the release of a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report on Medicare contracting reform, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) have called for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to emphasize quality of service in reforms to claims processing.   MMI is very glad to see bipartisan support for this type of reform.  Delays in payments and backlogs in claims caused by inefficiencies in the Medicare and Medicaid systems have created hardships for healthcare providers throughout the country.  Let's hope Congress moves on this  fast. - Full Article     May 1st, 2010 - Heart specialists at Jacksonville conference upset at health bill Cardiologists explain how new Healthcare law will imposed restrictions and limited reimbursements that will force cardiologists to refer their patients to a hospital for this procedure, resulting in higher charges to the patient. - Full Article     April 13th, 2010 - Longtime South Fla. Healthcare Executive Launches Oncology Referral Network of America A longtime South Florida healthcare executive recently launched Oncology Referral Network of America, a healthcare service provider that pairs international cancer patients with a network of physicians and medical centers in South Florida. The company is currently focusing its efforts on helping cancer patients and their doctors in the Caribbean and Latin America to find specialists in the United States for complex cases. - Full Article   April 7th, 2010 - 3-D Images Clear Up Breast Cancer Confusion A new generation of mammography is being tested in South Florida. It uses 3D images to produce clearer pictures of breast tissue; doctors are hoping it will result in better diagnoses. Dr. Mary Hayes is medical director of the Women's Imaging Center at Memorial Healthcare system. She said with Tomosynthesis, doctors are able to analyze breast tissue like never before through 3-dimensional images - Full Article   January 5th, 2010 - Ultrasound technologists provide vital medical service The Miami-Herald published a great article highlighting the value of technologists in medical imaging facilities.  While the main part of the article highlighted ultrasound technologists, they also talk about the importance of technologists in a variety of modalities.  The article states: "Ultrasound technologists, also called diagnostic medical sonographers, operate ultrasound machines, using high frequency sound waves to create images of the inside of the body for diagnostic purposes. While ultrasound technology is perhaps best known for its use in pregnancy, it is also used to make images of the abdomen, vascular system and heart. Ultrasound technologists are one kind of medical-imaging technologist. Others specialize in X-rays, CT scans or MRIs. ``Imaging sort of marries the opportunity to use technical knowledge and use it on real, state-of-the-art equipment, and combines that with the ability to still interact with patients,'' said Carol Miller, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Academic Affairs at Miami Dade College Medical Center campus." - Full Article     December 30th, 2009 - ACC sues HHS over planned reimbursement cuts The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is spearheading a lawsuit in a Florida court to stop the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing major cuts to Medicare payments to physicians for certain types of cardiovascular imaging [1]. The planned cuts "will devastate patient access to care," Dr Alfred Bove (Temple University Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA), ACC president, said in a press release - Full article   December 24th, 2009 - 'Airport City' could make Miami a medical tourism hotspot Miami Today has a great article on a proposed medical facility for the Miami International Airport that would cater to those in South America seeking advanced U.S. patient care.    "A proposed "Airport City" at Miami International could put Miami on the map as a medical destination, proponents hope.  The proposed project is in the conceptual stages now and could change during negotiations with the county aviation department, and once in-depth planning takes off.   But envisioned now are five high-tech outpatient centers: primary care, women's health and wellness, imaging and diagnostics, sports medicine and rehabilitation, and ambulatory surgery."  - Full Article     October 9th, 2009 - Plan "Three": Why hospitals are nixing OEMs and embracing third parties MD Publishing wrote a very interesting article about the growing use of third party medical imaging equipment service providers like Managed Medical Imaging being used by hospitals across the country as an alternative to expensive OEMs. - Full Article   September 3rd, 2009 -  X-ray equipment may be crawling with germs NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Portable X-ray equipment is implicated in the spreading of drug-resistant bacteria in the intensive care unit (ICU), Israeli researchers report. - Full Article (NOTE: MMI preventive maintenance services are very helpful in maintaining a clean work environment with all of the modalities we service.)   August, 2009 - MMI Featured in multiple articles of DotMed Magazine.  The expertise of Managed Medical Imaging was used by nationally distributed DotMed Magazine for articles on Portable X-Ray equipment and CRs.  - Full Article     June 18th, 2009 - A University of Central Florida researcher is developing a computer program to detect and  measure brain tumors.  The the UCF researcher uses the same techniques used to detect suspicious activity in airports, stadiums and other public places to find and measure potentially life-threatening brain tumors.  Mubarak Shah, UCF's Agere Chair professor of Computer Science and one of the world's most eminent researchers in the rapidly developing field of computer imaging, has received $400,000 from the National Institutes of Health to develop a computer program to analyze brain scans produced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI.) - Full Article   June 11, 2009 - FONAR Sells Fifth UPRIGHT® Multi-PositionTM MRI to Major Florida Radiology Center (Marketwire - June 11, 2009) - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ: FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning™, announced today it has sold a fifth UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI scanner to Rose Radiology Centers, the major radiology group on Florida's West Coast. Rose Radiology has ten offices in the greater Tampa area. Most of the offices offer MRI, CT, X-ray, Ultrasound, and Mammography, while other Rose Radiology Centers also offer Fluoroscopy, DEXA, and PET/CT. - Full Article     June 5th, 2009 - Elite Imaging Presents Diagnostic Imaging Services To The Cayman Island Elite Imaging LLC hosted a symposium on state-of-the-art medical imaging modalities currently being offered in the United States.  Key topics of discussion included PET/CT [Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography], recognized as the standard of care in the management of cancer, as well as 3Tesla MRI, the latest in neurologic and orthopedic imaging.  Elite Imaging LLC presents state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging services offered to healthcare professionals in cayman islands of the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Cayman islands. - Full Article     May 23rd, 2009 - Cleveland Clinic opens in West Palm Beach; Good Samaritan, St. Mary's add services The renowned Cleveland Clinic opened its Florida Health and Wellness Center in November in West Palm Beach.  The clinic occupies nearly 27,000 square feet on the 14th floor of CityPlace Towers and has a 2,300-square-foot ground-floor space for diagnostic imaging. - Full Article     May 22nd, 2009 - Comparison Of Medical Imaging Choices Finds Ultrasound To Be The Most Cost Efficient In comparing ultrasound with other medical imaging methods such as MRI and CT scans, a literature review of published studies in the May/June issue of Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (JDMS) describes the use of ultrasound to provide an accurate diagnosis more cost effectively than the alternatives. - Full Article   February 13th, 2009 - Florida Hospitals expand Three Osceola County hospitals will begin multimillion-dollar expansions during the next 12-24 months due to the area’s booming population. • The 112-bed Florida Hospital Celebration Health, owned by Winter Park-based Adventist Health System, will build a $100 million, 120-bed patient tower. • The 83-bed Florida Hospital Kissimmee, also owned by Adventist Health, will construct a new $40 million, three-story, 130-bed tower. • The 235-bed Osceola Regional Medical Center, owned by Nashville-based HCA Inc., will spend about $12 million to add a fifth story with 22 new cardiovascular rooms to its heart tower. - Full Article     October 1st, 2008 - Cape Coral VA clinic moves ahead The U.S. Senate on Tuesday authorized $131 million in federal funding for the construction of a new VA outpatient clinic in Cape Coral.  The measure heads to President Bush for his signature in order to become law. The new 200,000-square-foot outpatient and specialty clinic near Diplomat Parkway and Corbett Road in Cape Coral will replace the 71,000-square foot clinic on Winker Road in Fort Myers and is set to be completed by 2011. The new clinic will offer a broader array of services, such as minor surgery, advanced imaging, nuclear medicine and vascular Doppler ultrasound. - Full Article     September 26th, 2008 - Imaging drives up health care costs - Region’s concentration of centers raises questions about overuse State figures show Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have a lot more medical imaging centers per patient than other Florida counties, leading to unnecessary visits and higher health insurance costs, some experts say.   South Florida Business Journal researched concentrations of imaging facilities in the state after a Government Accountability Office report in June showed Florida Medicare beneficiaries rang up more in-office imaging spending in 2006 – $472 per enrollee – than any other state. The data was provided by the Florida Department of Health, which tracks X-ray and nuclear medicine imaging facilities that use radioactive isotopes to conduct cardiac stress tests. The state doesn’t count other imaging facilities, such as those offering magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT). - Full Article       September 12th, 2008 - UCF professor & son make iPhone a medical tool Doctors now can take their work to the beach with new iPhone software. This program -- dubbed Mythos MD -- allows doctors to see any 3-D image, such as an MRI or CT scan, sent to them from the hospital. It was created in August by University of Central Florida professor Kiminobu Sugaya, 51, and his 19-year-old son, Andrew, a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We can rotate, or even slice, so they can view any kind of medical image," Sugaya said. "With this software, they can do that anywhere, even on an airplane or in a car." - Full Article       July 24th, 2008 - Fuji to stop support service on Fuji FCR 5000 and Fuji SmartCR Fuji is quietly telling hospitals and diagnostic centers throughout the country that they are going to stop supporting the FCR 5000 and SmartCR products as they reach what Fuji calls "end of life" for those two product lines. MMI will continue supporting the Fuji FCR 5000 and Fuji SmartCR and has a large parts inventory that can meet the support needs for clients for years to come.  We will continue to offer support services for clients in and outside Florida for both CR systems.     July 17, 2008 - Should Medicare Stop Medical Imaging Before It Starts?   Medicare has been trying to clamp down on burgeoning costs from medical imaging. But a new GAO report suggests the agency might have more success if it were to stop unnecessary CT scans, MRIs and the like before they happen in the first place.   To cut imaging costs, Medicare has been cutting certain physician payments, sifting through its data to spot improper claims, and educating medical practitioners about the issue. But the GAO’s suggestions for Medicare include weighing a front-end tactic that’s common in the private health-insurance market: prior authorization. That’s when, for a patient to get coverage, an insurer has to give permission before something takes place. “We believe that post-payment claims review alone is inadequate to manage one of the fastest growing parts of Medicare,” the GAO said.   To read the full report, click on the PDF icon at left.     READ FULL ARTICLE   June 16, 2008 - Florida Radiology Associates is closing its doors after 40 years.   The Altamonte Springs group, which until recently employed 48 radiologists and 64 billing personnel, lost its exclusive contract a few months ago to provide X-ray services to Florida Hospital. Executive Director Charles May had hoped to land other contracts to keep the business going, but last week said the group announced it would cease operating "over the next several months." Thirty-two of its radiologists will join Florida Hospital's new in-house group, Radiology Specialists of Florida, May said.     June 19, 2008 - Fujifilm Introduces Breast Imaging Diagnostic Workstation Delivers Full Synapse(R) PACS Capabilities in the Form of a Workstation for Digital Breast Imaging   Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc. announced today that it is introducing the Breast Imaging Diagnostic Workstation (BIDW). Available for any U.S. facility that has implemented Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM), the BIDW is being introduced specifically to complement Fujifilm's Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) solution and provide better workstation interpretation capabilities for facilities that may use another vendor's PACS. Delivering full Synapse® PACS functionality, this new standalone workstation is designed to be a supplement to any facility's existing PACS, and meet the market need for more clinically and operationally advanced systems to support breast imaging. - link      May 5th, 2008   GE healthcare systems confirmed that the FDA has notified them that they have satisfied the criteria in the January 2007 consent decree.  Managed Medical Imaging services all models of OEC C-Arms and anticipates increased need for our imaging equipment services as a result of this decision.   The GE Healthcare press release states:   (GE Healthcare) SALT LAKE CITY – MAY 5, 2008 — The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified GE Healthcare’s Surgery business, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that the company has satisfied the criteria in the January 2007 consent decree required to resume operations. The OEC® 9900 Elite Carm, a fluoroscopy device that uses x-rays to reveal real-time imagery of a patient’s internal structure, is the first product to receive manufacturing and shipping authorization. More than 300 of these units will be shipped to customers in the first 10 days after this notification.     “Above all, this is a great day for our customers,” said Joe Hogan, President and CEO of GE Healthcare.  “We’d like to thank the thousands of hospitals that stood by and waited with us, believing in our product and our team. We can assure them, with the refinements we have made to our Surgery business’ Quality Management System and the OEC 9900 C-arm, we have raised our own standards, creating a foundation that will serve our customers well into the future.”   Every day, seven out of ten surgeons rely on an OEC C-arm in their operating rooms. In fact, during GE Healthcare Surgery’s stop ship, many customers continued to hold their orders for equipment, some waiting more than eighteen months.   Read Press Release

April 15, 2008 (Imaging Economics)   On April 3, Rep Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY) introduced HR 5711, the Assure Access to Mammography Act of 2008, into the House.   The legislation would create a reimbursement floor for mammography services in 2009 equal to 115% of what was paid for the same services in 2008, subject to geographic area adjustment.   1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.   The American Cancer Society recommends that women 40 and older have a mammogram every year. Early detection through mammograms can give women hope by significantly increasing their chance of survival from breast cancer. Over the last 7 years, due to better technology, the number of breast cancer cases that have been diagnosed has increased by 20%. However, the percentage of women receiving mammograms has been on the decline since 2000.   The bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Ways and Means. Read Full Article

April 4, 2008 (Fuji News) iCAD’s SecondLook® Digital Computer-Aided Detection system for mammography received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale with Fujifilm Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) systems. SecondLook Digital for FCRm is the first CAD product approved and available in the U.S. for use with computer radiography (CR).   iCAD’s SecondLook Digital system coupled with the Fuji CR Mammography system will improve our ability to detect potentially malignant calcifications and masses and we expect that it will increase our overall standard of care,” said Jeffrey Mendel, M.D., Chairman of Radiology at Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. “Additionally, seamless integration of iCAD’s product with our PACS system will improve the efficiency of our reading and our overall digital workflow.   Since Fujifilm received FDA approval for FCRm in July 2006, the company has enjoyed record sales in the US market, enabling the conversion to digital of nearly 500 mammography exam rooms. FCRm is the world’s most widely used digital mammography technology with shipment of more than 4,400 systems worldwide. Read Full Press Release

DotMed Issue on CT Scanners offers insight on industry in 2008   DotMed Magazine's April 2008 issue offered some great insight into the state of the CT industry and how independent imaging centers are coping with DRA reimbursement cuts by Medicare for imaging procedures done outside of hospitals.  Some interesting information from the article include:   Computed tomography (CT) is a multi-billion dollar worldwide market, with more than 60 million CT procedures performed each year in North America. "This year," predicts Kerry Tucker, Vice President of Supply Chain Services for group purchasing giant Broadlane, "roughly 41 percent of hospitals will be purchasing a new CT."   The CT procedure growth rate is down in recent years. "With the impact of DRA reimbursements and radiology benefits management [which determines payment from insurers], the procedure growth rate will taper off to 7% [yearly] as opposed to the 10 to 12% rate we had seen in the past," said John Steidley, Vice President of Marketing for CT, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH.   While 2007 was a challenging year for the OEMs, most Independent Service Organizations (ISOs) are expecting steady sales in 2008 for pre-owned equipment. They also expect new service opportunities for equipment coming off of OEM service contracts or warranty.   In speaking with independent service organizations, DOTmed estimates that hospitals can save 15-40 % on CT service by using an ISO instead of the manufacturer. There was also some great information on the use of ISOs for CT scanners:   "Inside a CT scanner are carbon brushes that are worn down by spinning gantries. The machines need regular cleaning of carbon dust and maintenance to prevent damage from electrical arcs. The dust can also clog the cooling system and bearings. Preventive maintenance or PMs, which include cleaning and lubrication, are a minimal service need. As with sales of used equipment, ISOs can save providers money on servicing CT equipment. The level and duration of service contracts vary widely as do the terms. Longer-term deals, up to seven years, are more popular lately, as is leasing equipment. Also to save money, some providers are getting insurance instead of service contracts, or getting time and materials contracts instead of paying a monthly fee. Hospitals are also negotiating national contracts through group purchasing organizations to increase their bargaining power. The OEMs provide a schedule for PMs which any reputable ISO company can provide. Some plans allow the servicer to monitor and intervene for service or repair. Others put the onus on the owner to make the call for service. Yet another negotiable factor is the availability of the service company"   Regardless of service, the most import item to consider in a maintenance plan is the X-ray tube. An estimated 30 to 50% of the cost of a CT and its maintenance is solely earmarked for the X-ray tube, a $100,000 to $200,000 part (and sometimes more) inside the scanner. The degree to which the healthcare provider assumes liability for the tube will determine the cost of the maintenance plan. Another approach is to share the liability for the tube with the service company. It will likely be cost-prohibitive for the healthcare provider to assume all risk, although it may work for equipment you plan to replace when the X-ray tube expires. Many providers enter into a shared risk arrangement with an ISO. This is far less costly per month than assuming all risk and it means that you'll pick up the agreed risk percentage for the replacement cost of the tube when needed. "In all candor, the market right now will not support full service contracts with glassware [X-ray tube coverage], so enter into an agreement with an inducement for the servicer to respond quickly," suggested Geske, referring to negotiable guaranteed response times for service. MMI agrees that excluding or partial excluding the X-ray tube is the more affordable option for service contracts on CT scanners.  Alternately, ISOs can cover a percentage of the tube as a part of the maintenance contract.  There are many other great facts in this article and we encourage you to read the full text.     Read the full article: http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/5623