In a recent article, “The AMA Backs Bills to Stop Medicare Imaging Pay Cuts,”  the American Medical Association (AMA) once again is fighting to maintain the status quo. They’ve picked a battle that won’t help them win the war.

Wayne Webster is a business development healthcare consultant. You can learn more about Webster and his company, Proactics Consulting, at www.Proactics.net. You can reach Webster at [email protected].

September 19, 2012 — Heart catheter procedures guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are as safe as X-ray angiography-guided procedures and take no more time, according to a pilot study conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The results of the study indicate that real-time MRI-guided catheterization could be a radiation-free alternative to certain X-ray-guided procedures.

September 19, 2012 — Merge Healthcare Inc. announced that its board of directors has retained Allen & Company LLC, a New York-based investment bank, to assist in exploring and evaluating a broad range of strategic alternatives including, but not limited to, a sale of the company or a business combination.

September 19, 2012 — This past week, surgeons and cardiologists at Sentara Heart Hospital were the first in the world to begin performing surgeries in the Dual Epicardial Endocardial Persistent Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Study (Staged DEEP) feasibility trial.

September 19, 2012 — In response to criticism by physicians about the restrictiveness of conditions put forth by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for reimbursement for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is emphasizing the importance of heart team quality and experience in ensuring positive patient outcomes.

First-year medical students at Mount Sinai School of Medicine will be the first in New York to be introduced to a digital-age ultrasound device that can visualize inside the body, and fit directly into the pockets of their brand new white coats.

September 18, 2012 — Inpatient hospital treatment accounts for the largest proportion of healthcare spending in the United States, with the use of diagnostic imaging services such as magnetic resonance images (MRIs) frequently implicated as the probable cause. A new analysis finds that the biggest expense may not be from imaging technology, but from supplies including medical devices, such as stents and artificial joints.

September 18, 2012 — Neovasc Inc. announced that acute results from preclinical studies of its Tiara valve for the transcatheter treatment of mitral regurgitation were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). The study reports that the initial experience with the Tiara transcatheter mitral valve was encouraging, and that implantation of Tiara valves was feasible, relatively straightforward and resulted in a securely-implanted, well-functioning device that maintained good hemodynamics in the test animals. The study, which will be published in the Oct. 9, 2012, edition of JACC, is currently available online.

Subscribe to
© Copyright Wainscot Media. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe Now