Overcoming opposition from one holdout lawmaker, the Senate has passed a $10 billion bill that further postpones a 21% cut in Medicare payments that went into effect March 1. The cut is mandated due to a flaw in the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to calculate Medicare payments.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Mar 3 - President Barack Obama will offer changes to his healthcare overhaul this week, the White House said on Monday, and Democrats said they were working to include more ideas advocated by Republicans.  

In part 2 of our coverage of the February 26 medical radiation hearings in Congress, we report on the testimony of medical groups representing radiology and radiation oncology, who tackled the issue of rising patient exposure head-on, telling lawmakers that more regulation is needed.  

More than 25% of outpatient CT and MR exams ordered by primary care physicians at a hospital in the state of Washington were inappropriate, according to a new study in the March edition of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Mar 1 - Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress focused on Friday on passing healthcare reform without Republican support after President Barack Obama's daylong summit won no new converts.  

Federal lawmakers expressed surprise at the lack of regulatory oversight over medical uses of radiation at hearings in the U.S. Congress. While everyone in attendance agreed that the current regulatory environment needs fixing, the thorny question is how to go about doing it.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Feb 26 - President Barack Obama and Republicans clashed frequently on Thursday at a summit on his stalled healthcare overhaul, battling over the size and cost of the proposal and moving no closer to a compromise agreement.  

A hospital in Missouri on February 24 acknowledged that 76 patients received too much radiation during radiation therapy procedures conducted between 2004 and 2009 -- the latest incident in what's become a series of errors regarding the medical use of radiation.  

In a bid to get ahead of the radiation dose issue, healthcare industry trade group Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) of Arlington, VA, today announced the development of a new radiation dose safeguard program.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold a public meeting March 30-31 to discuss steps that manufacturers of CT and fluoroscopy systems can take to reduce unnecessary patient exposure to radiation.  

A new report published this month offers good news and bad news regarding pediatric CT radiation dose in developing countries. The bad news: Pediatric CT dose varies widely internationally, and some sites have been using adult protocols on children. The good news: Education can spur CT sites to change their ways.  

The Image Gently campaign reached its second birthday last month, and while no official parties were held, there are plenty of reasons for children to celebrate. Image Gently has evolved from a modest, volunteer-driven initiative focused on North America into a global movement to raise awareness of radiation dose.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Feb 25 - Democrats targeted health insurers and wary Republicans braced for a political showdown on Wednesday ahead of a White House summit that President Barack Obama hopes will spark momentum for a broad healthcare overhaul.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Feb 24 - From 1996 to 2008, there has been a steady decline in the hours worked per week by physicians in the U.S., according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association for February 10.  

In some states, women ages 40 to 49 have less access to mammograms since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its recommendations to change breast cancer screening guidelines last November, according to a recent survey conducted by the Avon Foundation for Women.  

The radiology employment market tipped from a shortage to a surplus in 2007, leaving radiologists hungry for more work, according to a new study to be published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Why? Because imaging departments are increasingly productive and the workload hasn't caught up.