Medical Imaging Blog

Healthcare IT

Echocardiography Saves Lives in Emergency Rooms

The opening sentence of Wikipedia’s “Echocardiography” entry is “Not to be confused with electrocardiography.”

That’s for sure.

Echocardiography is a cardiac ultrasound that produces 2D or, increasingly, 3D real-time images of a heart. Moreover, an echocardiogram can analyze valve function, blood flow in and out of the heart, “communications” between the left and right sides of the heart, and other cardiac functions.

Electrocardiography, on the other hand, measures the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time.

Both procedures are important in modern-day cardiac care, but echocardiography is increasingly being used in emergency rooms to quickly assess patients experiencing some form of cardiac distress.

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Medical Imaging Technology Update

Here is a collection of some of the latest news, advances and promising research in the medical imaging field:

Liver cancer treatment. Interventional radiologists may have discovered a way to better identify and modify blood vessels so that radiation-emitting – and cancer killing – beads can be delivered to inoperable liver tumors. Continue reading.
Stress and sleep studies. Neuroimaging has been used to study all kinds of things, but not the effect of stress and sleep deprivation. Scientists in Virginia hope to better understand how the brainstem and thalamus by recording the effects of stress and sleeplessness. Continue reading.

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Medical Imaging Economics at RSNA

Medical imaging professionals love RSNA. It’s a time to see old friends, connect with fellow professionals, and learn about the latest medical imaging hardware and software. It’s also a great place for people new to the field to start building their networks.

The other reason medical professionals look forward to RSNA is to learn about the economics that drive the industry. ACO’s, meaningful use, teleradiology, commoditization – these are all changing the medical imaging market, and professionals in the field should know how they may define the role of the medical imaging professional in the future.

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The Future of Healthcare Reform and Radiology

The Obama administration recently passed on an opportunity to prevent the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) from going to the Supreme Court, so we could have a decision about the Act’s constitutionality by next summer.

In the meantime, though, it’s best to proceed as if PPACA will be implemented as planned. For hospitals and healthcare organizations with radiology systems, that means that this article from Diagnostic Imaging is probably worth reading.

The article reports on the words of Robert Still, a doctor and practice manager at Lancaster Radiology Associates in Auburn, Pennsylvania. Still recently spoke at the AHRA’s annual meeting in Dallas.

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Seven Features Every RIS Must Have

These days, it’s almost impossible to imagine a medical imaging practice without a radiology information system (RIS). Unfortunately, it’s quite easy to imagine practices with a sub-standard RIS. Medical imaging practices should look for these seven features in an RIS before buying or upgrading one:

Pre-Loaded and Customizable Tables. No one in a radiology department has time to create all the tables the department needs, which is why an RIS should come with the most common tables pre-loaded. But it should also allow the department to easily manipulate basic templates to meet its unique needs.

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Improving Radiology Workflow After Technological Improvements

Technology won’t solve workflow issues. Just ask Jon Copeland.

Copeland is the CEO at Inland Imaging in Spokane, Washington, which provides radiology services to regional healthcare practices. Specifically, he is responsible for assembling specialists who provide consulting services to a variety of private and public clients.

By 2006, Inland Imaging employed 65 radiologists, was completely filmless, used voice-recognition software, and had a single PACS database with connections to the Radiology Information System (RIS) of six vendors.

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Hospital IT Budgets Are Rebounding

According to HIMSS Analytics, hospital IT budgets may get back to pre-recession levels sooner rather than later.

The report, which is good news for healthcare IT companies like McKesson, is based on first quarter reports of over 5200 hospitals. The two key details:

The adoption of EMRs and EMR-related applications increased from 2009 to 2010, No doubt because of the drive to meet “meaningful use” criteria. According to John P. Hoyt, executive vice president of organizational services at HIMSS, “The number of hospitals reaching Stage 6 of the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model doubled last year.”

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Medical Imaging in the ED – Problems With Medicare

“Medicare paid $38 million in erroneously documented imaging claims.” That’s the headline of a recent HealthImaging.com article. That’s a lot medical imaging mismanagement.

That dollar amount is based on substantial data. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) analyzed around 9.6 million claims before concluding that 19 percent of outpatient CTs and MRIs and 14 percent of outpatient x-rays at Emergency Departments (EDs) around the country were improperly documented.

The two most common documentation errors were 1) A lack of a physician’s order for the medical imaging and 2) Analysis of medical imaging after the patient had left the ED.

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American Society of Echocardiography Says: More Training Needed

Echocardiography

A fact we’ve mentioned on this blog time and time again is that medical IT technology is ever-evolving and constantly updating. The appearance of new technology in any hospital, clinic or private practice can mean that the training for associates is often lacking. When that training falls short of excellent, problems can arise and discrepancies can start to pop up that may be extremely dangerous and costly. Now, the American Society of Echocardiography is saying that training needs to increase for these costly mistakes and discrepancies to finally disappear.

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Medical Imaging: Toshiba Standing Out in Medical Equipment Rankings

Each year, the top 20 companies in the medical equipment world are chosen to be part of a Best in KLAS award that recognizes those who go above and beyond. Once again, and impressively so, Toshiba America Medical Systems continues to stand out when it comes to their service and support for its customers. They have taken home the number 1 top spot as the best medical equipment vendor of the year. This marks the 3^rd straight year they have done so, and even more impressively, they hold the top spot in 5 different categories.

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