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| March 25, 2010 | |
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FDAFDA Drug Center Reorganization Puts Medical Imaging In Its Own Division Health ITHospitals, Doctors Urge CMS To Revise Health IT Meaningful Use Definition Health ReformHouse Passes Historic Health Bill Dems Increase Cuts To Provider Market Updates By $10 Billion 10 states line up to sue over health bill, Florida AG says MedicareHouse Passes 1-Month Stopgap For SGR Physician Advisory Panel Weighs In On HIT Meaningful Use, Fraud, RACs AMA Tells Senate Leaders It Opposes Any Temporary Pay Patch Medical Scans Used Most in Atlanta, Least in Seattle NRCNRC Proposes $227,500 Fine Against Department of Veteran Affairs Aunt Minnie Articles(Free Subscription Required) Calcium findings on abdominal CT linked to heart attack risk Study: Less breast screening leads to more palpable cancers Task Group Reports |
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The International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry (IC3DDose) : August 22-26, 2010 DICOM 2010 INTERNATIONAL CONF & SEMINAR: October 9-11, 2010; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Call for Papers AAPM Website UpdatesInside Science Report on Congressional Hearings on Medical Radiation Two Regional Seminars Offered on the NIH Grants Process
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FDAFDA Drug Center Reorganization Puts Medical Imaging In Its Own DivisionFDA plans to spin off medical imaging pharmaceuticals into their own drug center division in the face of congressional criticism and a broader effort to ensure the safety of medical imaging products following recent over-exposures to radiation. The move is part of a drug center reorganization slated to take effect March 15... [see full article] Health ITHospitals, Doctors Urge CMS To Revise Health IT Meaningful Use DefinitionMembers of the health care community flooded CMS with hundreds of pages of comments on the new health IT definition of "meaningful use" by Monday’s submittal deadline, with some of the biggest provider groups walking in lockstep in opposition to what they call an overly aggressive first target date. The "Stage 1" deadline requires about two dozen electronic health record (EHR) objectives to be met in 2011, a mandate that the American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, American Medical Association and Medical Group Management Association all describe as unrealistic, costly and unfair... [see full article] Health ReformHouse Passes Historic Health BillWASHINGTON—The biggest transformation of the U.S. health system in decades won approval on Capitol Hill late Sunday, the culmination of efforts by generations of Democrats to achieve near-universal health coverage... [see full article] Dems Increase Cuts To Provider Market Updates By $10 BillionThe health care reconciliation bill cuts another $10 billion in hospital payments in the form of "negative market basket updates," according to a House summary and a Congressional Budget Office score. The total cut now comes to $156.6 billion in 10 years. Democrats, however, shaved cuts to Medicare disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) as part of the reconciliation bill released Thursday... [see full article] Despite continued lobbying on employer provisions . . . Few Changes Expected In Senate After Historic House VoteDemocrats are sounding confident that their reconciliation bill will get through the Senate largely intact, even as employers continue to press for changes to the retiree drug program and other provisions. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the Senate bill into law on Tuesday, kicking off a week of Republican amendments and procedural maneuvers that could culminate in a vote as early as Saturday...[see full article] 10 states line up to sue over health bill, Florida AG saysBill McCollum, the Republican attorney general under fellow Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, told a news conference that the lawsuit would be filed once President Obama signs the health care bill into law. He said he’ll be joined by his counterparts in Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington... [see full article] MedicareHouse Passes 1-Month Stopgap For SGRThe House passed Wednesday another short-term payment extenders package -- covering Medicare physician payments, the therapy cap exceptions process and COBRA -- that would keep these policies funded through April, hedging against the possibility the House and Senate can’t work out their differences by then on a bill both bodies have already passed that offers providers a respite until the end of the fiscal year (HR 4213)... [see full article] Physician Advisory Panel Weighs In On HIT Meaningful Use, Fraud, RACsThe CMS advisory panel that recommends changes in policy related to physicians issued draft recommendations earlier this month in hopes of simplifying the meaningful use criteria physicians must meet to qualify for health IT bonus payments, as well as touching on issues relating to quality reporting and fraud. The panel urged the agency to provide feedback on as regular a basis as possible about how well doctors are meeting the meaningful use criteria and to help doctors understand how to remain HIPAA compliant when they transfer data via an electronic health record system... [see full article] AMA Tells Senate Leaders It Opposes Any Temporary Pay PatchThe American Medical Association has stepped up its lobby against a short-term Medicare physician payment fix, hoping to convince lawmakers to scrap plans to enact a second temporary payment patch and instead institute a permanent fix as proposed earlier by the House. AMA wrote to Senate leaders March 5 letter that it is "opposed to further short-term patches of any duration... [see full article] Medical Scans Used Most in Atlanta, Least in SeattleStudy finds wide variation in MRI, CT uptake depending on region MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- There’s a big gap between regions in Medicare patients’ use of diagnostic imaging such as CT scans, MRIs and PET scans, a new study finds... [see full article] NRCNRC Proposes $227,500 Fine Against Department of Veteran AffairsThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $227,500 fine against the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for violations of NRC regulations associated with an unprecedented number of medical errors identified at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia (VA Philadelphia)... [see full article] Aunt Minnie ArticleS(Free Subscription Required) Calcium findings on abdominal CT linked to heart attack riskATLANTA - The presence of calcified aortic plaques -- often spotted as incidental findings on CT scans -- appear to be strong predictors of coronary artery disease and mortality, researchers reported at this week’s American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting... [see full article] Study: Less breast screening leads to more palpable cancersWomen who present with palpable breast tumors tend to be those who don’t undergo annual screening mammograms, according to a new study in the March Journal of the American College of Surgeons. And these palpable tumors are larger and at more advanced stages of disease when they are discovered... [see full article] |
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AAPM CT Dose Summit: Scan Parameter Optimization
Imaging for Treatment Assessment in Radiation Therapy (ITART) Meeting
