What's New
Experience with ACR Accreditation
View our latest lecture in the Accreditation Toolkit
Learn practical information from a center who has recently mastered the ACR accreditation process.
Experience with ACR Accreditation
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Responding to the DRA Neurology Lecture
View our latest lecture in the DRA Toolkit
Learn how to expand your center's business with additional applications for PET imaging.
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Reimbursement News
Revised 2008 CPT Codes: Important Changes for Nuclear Medicine Professionals
The AMA recently released the 2008 CPT codes that will be effective January 1, 2008. As a reminder, CMS no longer allows a grace period for implementation of any code sets. This year you will find some minor changes in the nuclear medicine section. Specifically, there are no new codes; however, there is one deleted code, as well as editorial revisions. Other sections of interest to nuclear medicine professionals are the Cardiac CTA category III codes (with minor clarifying editorial changes) as well as some changes to the modifiers.
For Positron Emission Tomography CPT codes 78811 - 78816 the term “tumor” was removed from the descriptors to allow broader use of the codes and reflect expansion of the use of PET imaging for indications other than tumor imaging.
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Nonpayment for Performance? Medicare's New Reimbursement Rule
To defuse physicians' and hospitals' opposition to the creation of Medicare back in 1965, the program's congressional architects selected payment mechanisms designed to preserve the status quo. But as Medicare has expanded and problems of affordability and quality of care have grown, such an approach has become untenable. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its decision to cease paying hospitals for some of the care made necessary by "preventable complications" — conditions that result from medical errors or improper care and that can reasonably be expected to be averted. This rule, which implements a congressionally mandated change in hospital reimbursement, is the latest in a series of steps that have rendered Medicare's payment policy far less passive than it once was.
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Rep McCarthy Calls for DRA Moratorium
Rep Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) asked colleagues for their support to the Access to Medicare Imaging Act in an appeal on the House floor.
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Business News
NAS/IOM Report Sees Hope and Despair for Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine is at a crossroads in the U.S., according to a new report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The result of a 13-month study by a multidisciplinary team of experts, the report conveys optimism for future innovations and applications in nuclear medicine, but also reaches some sobering conclusions unless changes occur with research funding, radionuclide availability and cost, federal agency management, and the shortage of trained specialists and experts.
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Contact your Representative to Ensure Future Funding of NM Research
Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY 14th) is currently distributing a “Dear Colleague” letter to her peers in the U.S. House of Representatives requesting the restoration of funding for basic nuclear medicine research at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The letter is similar in content to the Senate “Dear Colleague” letter that helped result in $20 million reserved for nuclear medicine research in the Senate Committee version of fiscal year 2008 energy appropriations.
Read more for instructions on how to contact your Representative today and ask him/her to sign Rep. Maloney’s letter.
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136,000: Patients Treated in Hospitals Between 1994 and 2004 Who Would Have Died
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has observed sharp declines in the hospital death rates of patients from heart attack and five other leading conditions. The agency estimates that 136,000 patients treated in hospitals between 1994 and 2004 would have died had they been hospitalized in the previous decade.
For every 1,000 patients admitted, heart attack deaths declined by 43; deaths from congestive heart failure, pneumonia and stroke each dropped by around 30; deaths from gastrointestinal hemorrhage fell by 21; and hip fracture deaths declined by 16. For every 1,000 patients undergoing surgical procedures, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair deaths dropped by 29; craniotomy deaths fell by 15; deaths from heart bypass surgery fell by 20; angioplasty deaths declined by 4; carotid endarterectomy deaths decreased by 5; and deaths from hip replacement surgery fell by half from 4 to 2.
The data comes from Trends in Hospital Risk-Adjusted Mortality for Select Diagnoses and Procedures, 1994-2004; this report uses statistics from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database.
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Cancer Death Rates Dropping Thanks to Early Detection, Better Treatments
Death rates from cancer are on the decline – decreasing on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2003, according to a new report from the nation's leading cancer organizations. The authors report that earlier detection of disease through screening, improved prognosis through more effective treatment, tobacco control, and reduction in inequalities in cancer care all point to the success of the nation's dedication and focus on reducing the burden of cancer in the U.S.
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Patient Advocacy
The Great American Smokeout
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. According to the National Institute of Health, an estimated 160,390 deaths will result from lung cancer in 2007; of those deaths, 90% are directly attributed to smoking, according to NIH Director John E. Niederhuber. Today, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in the US. As part of an effort to raise national awareness of the dangers in smoking, Thursday, November 15 is The Great American Smoke-out.
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Technology
Molecular Imaging: A Brave New World
Nuclear medicine, once dismissed as “unclear medicine,” has moved to the cutting-edge of diagnostic healthcare in the past few years with the introduction of fusion molecular imaging modalities such as PET/CT and SPECT/CT, which provide anatomic clarity to the discipline’s functional focus. A host of firms are unveiling offerings for molecular imaging applications and processing at the RSNA this year.
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Clinical Practice
ACRIN, GOG Initiate Study on Imaging for Staging Cervical Cancer
A new study, supervised by the ACR Imaging Network (ACRIN) and the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), will evaluate the capability of FDG-PET/CT and MRI, with the contrast agent Combidex to identify pelvic and abdominal lymph node metastases in patients with locoregionally advanced cervical cancer.
According to investigators, FDG-PET/CT and Combidex MRI hold the promise to find cancers that may presently go undiagnosed.
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Clinical News Journal Review
New Clinical Trials Showcase Versatility of High-Tech Cardiovascular Imaging
Peer-reviewed research published in October offered an eye-opener for anyone who thinks that cardiac imaging is all about measuring coronary artery occlusions. Variety spiced the most notable imaging research of the month. Studies produced fresh insight into the relevance of renal artery calcium, delayed enhancement and the prediction of post-myocardial infarction left ventricular remodeling, initial imaging assessments of acute stroke, coronary flow reserve and diabetes, aortic dissection, and Turner syndrome, as well as, of course, coronary artery imaging.
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