November 23, 2009
51-year-old woman presented with shortness of breath. Pulmonary CT angiogram was negative for pulmonary embolism.
- House Votes to Repeal SGR, Physician Payment Cut
ACR Daily News Scan
On Nov. 19, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 243-183 to approve HR 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Act that seeks to reform the way Medicare pays physicians and would avoid a 21 percent cut in physician reimbursement. - ACR Urges Providers and Patients to Continue to Follow Current Screening Mammography Guidelines
ACR Daily News Scan
Confusion continues to grow over the recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s (USPSTF) recommendations that women under the age of 50 no longer be screened for breast cancer. Women are wondering if their mammograms will now be covered by their insurance company and radiology practices are beginning to receive calls from women who want to cancel their scheduled yearly mammogram.
- ACR Responds to HHS Secretary Sebelius Regarding USPSTF Mammography Recommendations
ACR News
The American College of Radiology (ACR) is pleased to see that Secretary Sebelius has reaffirmed that mammography is a vital and lifesaving tool in the battle against breast cancer. We strongly urge women and providers to continue to adhere to the current American Cancer Society and American College of Radiology policies regarding mammographic screening. - HHS Director Statement on New USPSTF Mammography Recommendations
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tells women to keep getting mammograms as they have been previously despite new breast cancer screening recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. - USPSTF Mammography Recommendations Will Result in Countless Unnecessary Breast Cancer Deaths Each Year
ACR News Release
If cost-cutting U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) mammography recommendations are adopted as policy, two decades of decline in breast cancer mortality could be reversed and countless American women may die needlessly from breast cancer each year. - Detailed ACR Statement on Ill Advised and Dangerous USPSTF Mammography Recommendations
ACR News Release
Newly revised U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations could reverse the 30 percent decline in breast cancer morbidity and mortality since 1990, causing undue suffering to women facing breast cancer and their families. - ACR Delegation Report from AMA HOD Meeting: Health Care Reform Debate
ACR Daily News Scan
One of the biggest issues facing the AMA House of Delegates Interim Meeting in Houston is the recent endorsement by the AMA of the House health care reform bill, HR 3962. The ACR delegation to the AMA were active participants during the House of Delegates debate on the Health care reform resolution. - House Passes Health Care Reform Bill, Imaging Cuts
ACR Daily News Scan
Shortly before midnight on Nov. 7, 2009, the U.S. House or Representatives, by a 220 – 215 vote, passed H.R. 3962, Affordable Health Care for America Act. 39 Democrats voted against the bill, which contains medical imaging reimbursement cuts, while one Republican voted in favor of passage. - ACR Chair Letter to Members: Imaging, the Medicare Fee Schedule and the Road Ahead
ACR Daily News Scan
As you may know, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released their 2010 Medicare Fee Schedule which contained significant cuts to the technical component of medical imaging reimbursement. The provisions in the final rule are not what we want, or are working toward, but the proposed rule contained far deeper imaging cuts. - New ACR Practice Leaders’ Web Site Launches Online Forum
ACR Daily News Scan
The American College of Radiology (ACR) recently launched a new practice leaders’ Web site designed to address the clinical and administrative issues facing today’s radiology and radiation oncology practice leaders by providing the most recent literature gathered from throughout the medical landscape and providing an online forum to discuss these issues with their peers. - Imaging Cuts in Medicare Fee Schedule: An Access Catastrophe and Danger to Patients
ACR Daily News Scan
Medical imaging cuts contained in the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will restrict life-saving imaging care to large hospitals, produce longer commutes and wait times to receive care, and cause life threatening delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other serious illnesses.
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- Breast Guidelines Test American Tolerance for Risk
Reuters
The uproar over new breast cancer screening guidelines in the United States underscores the delicate balance scientists and health policy experts face in trying to convince a wary American public that less healthcare, in some cases, may be good for them. - Burden of Proof: Breast Cancer Changes Fall Short
Reuters
Making drastic changes to U.S. breast cancer screening guidelines will take much stronger evidence than that offered by a federal advisory panel this week, U.S. doctors said on Friday.
- No Hospital Savings With Electronic Records: U.S. Study
Reuters
New electronic record systems installed in thousands of U.S. hospitals have done little to rein in skyrocketing healthcare costs, Harvard University researchers said in a study released on Friday. - Senate Leader at Risk in Health Care Battle
Reuters
Other than President Barack Obama, perhaps no one's political future is riding more on the Senate battle to revamp the healthcare system than the chamber's Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid. - U.S. Policy on Mammograms Unchanged
Reuters Health
U.S. health officials on Wednesday distanced themselves from controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms for healthy women in their 40s and said federal policy on screening mammograms has not changed. - CT Angiography Is a Better Way to Rule Out MI in the ER
Reuters Health
Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) is faster, cheaper, and just as reliable as standard triage for screening patients who come to emergency departments with acute chest pain, researchers announced here at the American Heart Association Scientific Session 2009. - Experts Question Motives of Mammography Guidelines
Reuters Health
Cancer experts fear new U.S. breast imaging guidelines that recommend against routine screening mammograms for women in their 40s may have their roots in the current drive in Washington to reform healthcare. - New Guidelines Advise Waiting to Age 50 for Mammographic Screening
Reuters Health
In an update to its 2002 guidelines, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is now recommending that mammographic screening for breast cancer not begin until age 50. - Just One Heart Attack Leads to the Radiation Equivalent of 725 X-rays
Reuters Health
The battery of tests given to a patient having an acute myocardial infarction in the average U.S. teaching hospital adds up to a dose of radiation equivalent to 725 chest X-rays, researchers reported on Monday at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando. - Radiation, Chemotherapy in Childhood Increase Risk of Dental Abnormalities
Reuters Health
Radiation and chemotherapy increase the risk of dental abnormalities in childhood cancer survivors, according to new research. - Evidence Scarce to Support RF Ablation of Colorectal CA Metastases in the Liver
Reuters Health
Radiofrequency (RF) ablation is widely used to treat hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer, but an American Society of Clinical Oncology evidence review warns there is no proof of the efficacy and efficiency of this approach. - 2010 Annual Meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements
The primary goal of the 2010 NCRP Annual Meeting will be to examine key issues, current controversies, and new tools and findings related to radiation risk communication.
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