Ingrid Lund on June 29, 2012 |
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Topics: Reimbursement, Finance, Service Line Growth, Volume Growth, Strategy, Imaging, Service Lines, Accountable Care, Market Trends, Health Care Reform, ACO, Shared Savings Model
Following a long road of uncertainty and speculation on the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), yesterday we got our answer. The Supreme Court upheld the health care reform law, including the individual mandate which requires most Americans to purchase health insurance.
The decision comes 17 months after a federal district court judge ruled the mandate unconstitutional and concluded that the PPACA must be struck down, and three months after the Supreme Court heard arguments in National Federation of Business versus Sebelius.
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The Supreme Court upholds the ACA: Three takeaways for imaging providers
on June 21, 2012 |
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Topics: Imaging, Service Lines, Market Trends, Strategy, Planning, Volume Growth, Accountable Care, ACO, Health Care Reform, Shared Savings Model
Emily Hague, Imaging Performance Partnership
A study published June 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that integrated health systems did little to control growth in imaging compared with their fee-for-service counterparts. Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco examined rates of diagnostic imaging at six large integrated health systems nationwide between 1996 and 2010.
Member patients underwent almost 40 million imaging exams, about 1.18 per person per year; of these, 35% were advanced modalities. Over the course of the study, CTs increased by 7.8%, MRIs increased by 10%, and ultrasound use increased by 3.9% annually. Use of PET scans also increased 54% per year from 2004 onward.
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New JAMA study indicates managed care may not reduce imaging utilization
