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| March 4, 2010 | |
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New in this IssueInside Science Report on Congressional Hearings on Medical Radiation
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and March 5 is Dress in Blue Day! Funding Opportunities
TG ReportsAccreditationJoint Commission’s Entry As Imaging Accreditor Surprises Other Winners FDA Imaging Plan Intersects With CMS’ Accreditation, Payment Worries Health ReformDems Press Ahead On Comprehensive Reform Bill, Look To Easter Deadline NFIB Embraces Snowe-Lincoln Proposal For Scaled-Back Reform Plan Obama’s Health Plan Creates Federal Insurance Authority, Closes Doughnut Hole Obama’s Health Reform Plan Adds To Senate’s Fraud-Fighting Measures President Tells Lawmakers He May Add 4 GOP Proposals To His Health Reform Bill MedicareCMS To Temporarily Hold Claims After Senate Fails To Pass Doc Pay Patch CMS Pays Providers After Deal Led To 31-Day Patch For Therapy Caps, SGR Aunt Minnie Articles(Free Subscription Required to View Articles) New paper updates guidelines on fluoro radiation injuries Radiology IT explores new frontiers Covidien signs deal to produce Mo-99 at Polish reactor
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Fund Meetings CalendarUpcoming Chapter Meetings (March - May)
2010 AAPM Annual Meeting (Registration and Housing Open March 18th) The International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry (IC3DDose): August 22-26, 2010 AAPM Website Updates
New Website feature: Links to Medical Radiation Incident References - under Links of Interest Two Regional Seminars Offered on the NIH Grants Process AIP publicizes AAPM Statement on Quality Radiation Therapy
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Placement & Committee AdsPlacement Service Ads as of March 4, 2010 AAPM Committee Classifieds as of March 4, 2010 |
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AccreditationJoint Commission’s Entry As Imaging Accreditor Surprises Other WinnersCMS choice of three divergent organizations to perform accreditation for advanced diagnostic imaging facilities late last month led two long-time rivals to scoff at the third chosen group, the Joint Commission, in a crossfire of criticism that illuminates the industry’s differing accreditation philosophies... (see full article) FDA Imaging Plan Intersects With CMS’ Accreditation, Payment WorriesFDA’s new initiative to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from three types of medical imaging procedures could require legislation and involve discussions with CMS, sources say. FDA’s bid to improve quality assurance and training may intersect with CMS’ statutorily mandated imaging accreditation program and the move to cut radiation exposure may fuel CMS’ ongoing interest in reducing imaging use, sources say... (see full article) Health ReformDems Press Ahead On Comprehensive Reform Bill, Look To Easter DeadlineCongressional Democrats reiterated their dedication to comprehensive health reform Friday and began to move in that direction, one day after the White House’s health care summit lay bare the deep health care divide separating the two parties. Several sources said that a rumored $250 billion scaled-down "backup" bill has been off the table for some time, and a Democratic lobbyist memo making the rounds suggests a three-step process is in the works that would secure health reform’s passage by the end of March... (see full article) NFIB Embraces Snowe-Lincoln Proposal For Scaled-Back Reform PlanA lobbyist the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) said Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) "deserve the gold star for common sense" for suggesting Congress use their SHOP Act -- which allows businesses to pool together to purchase insurance - as foundation for a scaled-back bipartisan health reform effort. The idea of allowing businesses to pool to buy insurance has bipartisan support and was discussed at Thursday’s health reform summit... (see full article) Obama’s Health Plan Creates Federal Insurance Authority, Closes Doughnut HoleThe president’s $950 billion health reform proposal unveiled Monday morning closely tracks the Senate reform bill but adds several provisions likely to appeal to House members, including proposals to increase affordability credits to help people purchase insurance, up the premium threshold for plans subject to the so-called Cadillac tax and delay the tax’s implementation until 2018, and boost penalties for certain employers who fail to offer insurance... (see full article) Obama’s Health Reform Plan Adds To Senate’s Fraud-Fighting MeasuresThe president’s health reform plan picks up the Senate’s fraud-fighting measures, plus adds additional ones aimed at speeding government review of claims data, making it illegal to trick Medicare beneficiaries into providing personal data and requiring registration and background checks for billing agencies, according to a White House source and a summary of the president’s plan... (see full article) President Tells Lawmakers He May Add 4 GOP Proposals To His Health Reform BillPresident Barack Obama, in a letter to congressional leaders, says he is exploring adding at least four policy proposals identified by Republicans to his health reform bill (see attachment). The GOP proposals:
MedicareCMS To Temporarily Hold Claims After Senate Fails To Pass Doc Pay PatchCMS on Friday scrambled to instruct contractors to hold payment of physician claims for 10 working days after the Senate recessed without delaying the 21.2 percent physician payment cut that kicks in Monday (March 1), a CMS official told Inside CMS. Physicians and other providers quickly excoriated Congress -- with the American Medical Association warning “a Medicare meltdown now seems certain” -- while CMS remained hopeful the Senate would pass the payment patch in the next week to minimize provider disruption, the agency source said... (see full article) CMS Pays Providers After Deal Led To 31-Day Patch For Therapy Caps, SGRCMS alerted providers on Wednesday that claims it had held up would immediately be released for processing as a result of congressional action Tuesday. Doctors and other providers paid under Part B received a one-month reprieve from the 21.2 percent payment cuts that went into effect March 1 after Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) dropped his filibuster of the short-term Medicare physician payment patch and other provisions that cover caps on rehab therapy services, unemployment and COBRA benefits... (see full article) Aunt Minnie Articles(Free Subscription Required to View Articles) New paper updates guidelines on fluoro radiation injuriesWhile much of the recent concern over medical radiation dose has focused on CT, fluoroscopy is another imaging modality that can pack a radiation wallop. In some cases, patients are leaving the fluoroscopy table unaware that they’ve received enough radiation to cause skin injury... (see full article) Radiology IT explores new frontiers"Information is the lifeblood of modern medicine. Health information technology is destined to be its circulatory system." When Dr. David Blumenthal’s words appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine2 last month, he was referring to the IT infrastructure the Department of Health and Human Services is building across the U.S. But his words transcended national borders and were heard around the globe... (see full article) Covidien signs deal to produce Mo-99 at Polish reactorHealthcare technology firm Covidien of Dublin, Ireland, has inked an agreement with the Institute of Atomic Energy in Poland (IAE Polatom) to augment Covidien’s supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), used in the production of the medical isotope technetium-99m (Tc-99m)... (see full article) |
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AAPM CT Dose Summit: Scan Parameter Optimization
Imaging for Treatment Assessment in Radiation Therapy (ITART) Meeting :
