Cardiovascular Radiology: Page 171

Rice, Texas Heart Instituite get NIH grant

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $1 million grant to Rice University in Houston and the Texas Heart Institute to research cell-tracking nanotube technology that could make MRI up to 40 times more sensitive and help guide adult stem cells to repair damaged hearts.

November 11, 2009

Positron touts new Medicare PET rates

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Molecular imaging vendor Positron expects the shift from cardiac SPECT to cardiac PET imaging will accelerate now that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

November 11, 2009

SNM contests proposed CMS payment rules

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Nuclear medicine society SNM has raised significant concerns about proposed reimbursement rules for imaging procedures, announced by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 30.

November 5, 2009

Automated segmentation could improve fetal heart echo

By Eric Barnes

A new method of segmenting the fetal heart with echocardiography could improve the evaluation of congenital heart defects compared to the time-consuming manual segmentation in use today, according to researchers from the U.K.

November 5, 2009

Philips inks 8-year PACS/Xcelera deal

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Philips Healthcare has announced a contract to replace a siloed legacy PACS at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in central Florida.

November 4, 2009

CMS cuts SPECT MPI payments 36%, sets CCTA rates

By Eric Barnes

Cardiac imaging is scheduled for reimbursement cuts -- including a 36% hack at SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) -- under the final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2010. On the plus side, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also published base rates for coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and increased cardiac PET reimbursement by about 17%.

November 4, 2009