Radiology Business’ most-viewed stories for September 2024

Subscribe to receive Radiology Business newsletters directly in your inbox and stay updated on the latest healthcare stories.

From the Editor??

What to make of the burgeoning whole-body MRI fad, which shows up in two of our top stories from September. I certainly don’t have $2,500 lying around, so I am not part of the target audience. But I do have a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, found incidentally on a CT scan checking the former smoker for lung cancer. (They caught it early, but it was still terrifying.) I recently crossed the 40-year mark, which seems to be the age when worries about health and mortality start piling up. Adding two young children into the mix only freaks me out further. I’m of the same mind as Daniel K.?Sodickson,?MD, who argues there is “more to this debate than meets the eye.” If WBMRI could save one life, it seems worth the low-risk trouble. And if patients are willing to spend the money, why not give them what they want? Where the situation gets sticky is if scarce physician resources are spent reading these exams, or performing unnecessary follow-up biopsies, rather than interpreting urgent ones. Liability is a whole ’nother wrinkle, too, as you’ll read in the first story below.??

A New Jersey man sued imaging startup Prenuvo Sept. 24, claiming an affiliated radiologist missed signs of an approaching stroke on his elective $2,500 whole-body MRI. Sean Clifford, 37, who lived in Manhattan at the time, received a scan at a Prenuvo location in that borough on July 15, 2023. William A Weiner, MD, an independent contractor, interpreted the MR images and allegedly did not denote potential warning signs of the patient’s medical troubles. Clifford later suffered a “catastrophic” stroke on March 7 while on a business trip in Miami. READ MORE>?

The?American College of Radiology?is offering help to physicians navigating the vetting process for AI solutions. Understanding how to evaluate AI has become a new frontier for most members of the specialty. The ACR’s Data Science Institute offers a searchable directory of commercially available imaging AI products in the U.S., with the goal of empowering medical professionals to access more-transparent AI product information and make better purchasing decisions. ACR says thousands of radiologists are accessing the site each month. READ MORE>?

The country’s largest commercial health insurer recently revealed details about its “gold card” program aimed at simplifying prior authorization, with key implications for radiology.?UnitedHealthcare launched the initiative in August, recognizing provider groups that “consistently adhere to evidence-based care guidelines.” Practices that earn the designation will see their prior authorization requirements decrease, instead following a “simple notification process” for eligible current procedural terminology codes.?The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based corporation revealed details Sept. 1, showing that more than 100 imaging CPT codes make the list. READ MORE>?

An arbitration panel recently settled the long-running payment dispute between Radiology Partners and UnitedHealthcare, vacating a $134,327,505 judgment previously awarded to RP.?The case dates to April 2022, when Rad Partners affiliate Singleton Associates PA filed an arbitration demand claiming “significant underpayment” by UHC of Texas. UnitedHealthcare later sued the country’s largest radiology group in?April 2023, alleging it had perpetrated a “pass through billing scheme” in its “unscrupulous pursuit of profits.” A three-member arbitration panel reached a decision Aug. 7, finding neither side entitled to a settlement. READ MORE>?

A commercially available AI triage system for stroke care improves neither radiologists’ diagnostic performance nor their report turnaround times, according to new research.?Experts with the University of Alabama at Birmingham explored the use of AI for intracranial hemorrhage, conducting a prospective evaluation of a product from Aidoc. Testing the AI tool across nearly 10,000 noncontrast head CT scans logged in 2021 produced disappointing results. Radiologists’ accuracy decreased with AI, while average report turnaround times for positive studies increased.?Aidoc criticized the study’s results, noting that the single-center design “significantly restricts generalizability.” READ MORE>?

Two imaging experts debated the potential “perils and promise” of using whole-body MRI to assess healthy patients, publishing their arguments in JACR.?This care model has grown in popularity in recent years, with startups such as Prenuvo and Ezra charging $2,500 to screen asymptomatic patients for cancer and other diseases. Saurabh?Jha,?MBBS, took the contrarian side, highlighting the risk of overdiagnosis stemming from whole-body MRI and cascading use of services after a scan.?Daniel K.?Sodickson,?MD, PhD, argued the opposite, noting that “there is more to this debate than meets the eye.” READ MORE>?

“Understaffing is ubiquitous” in the specialty, according to the results of a workforce survey from the Radiology Business Management Association and American College of Radiology, released Sept. 10.?About 69% of radiologists surveyed in 2023 believe their organization is understaffed, up from 67% the previous year. Only 23% of those polled feel their organization is fully manned, a drop from 25% in 2022.?Respondents were more likely to consider their workplace shorthanded when working in practices wholly owned by a hospital or health system (75%). Same for radiologists who manage, teach or supervise residents (75%).?READ MORE>??

A recent court ruling could hold hospitals accountable for mistakes made by radiologists and other independent physician contractors. The case dates to June 2015, when Cindy Essex visited Samaritan Healthcare’s emergency department in Moses Lake, Washington, with abdominal cramping and severe pain in her left shoulder. Outside radiologist Irene W. Cruite, MD, interpreted the CT images and purportedly overlooked the flesh-eating bacteria that later claimed Essex’s life. The woman’s family sued, alleging?medical negligence and wrongful death. The Washington Supreme Court recently ruled on the case.?READ MORE>?

Physician burnout has become “widespread” due to continued reimbursement declines and rising administrative obligations, Radiology Partners warned in comments submitted to CMS Sept. 9. These stressors, “coupled with the burden of running a business and practicing medicine,” are weighing down practitioners of the specialty. Medicare cuts have been particularly “severe” in radiology, the El Segundo, California-based practice noted.?Unpredictable and “often meaningful” Medicare reimbursement changes hinder a practice’s operations, “thereby directly impacting its ability to care for Medicare beneficiaries,” RP said. READ MORE>?

Three radiologists were among breast-care advocates speaking during a Capitol Hill briefing held Sept. 9 in Washington as advocates drum up support for a key piece of imaging-related legislation.?U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., reintroduced the Find It Early Act alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., in?May 2023.?Endorsed by breast cancer survivor Katie Couric, ACR and others, the legislation would require all insurers to cover supplemental breast imaging exams. Though the bill boasts bipartisan backing in the House, advocates?note?that it has had difficulty finding a Republican supporter in the Senate.?READ MORE>?

The Radiology Business Forty Under 40 Awards honor the nation's top radiology professionals under 40 (as of 1/1/25), recognizing their achievements, innovation and leadership. This program celebrates a diverse group across radiology, imaging, imaging informatics, enterprise imaging and AI who are advancing radiology in facilities and within companies supporting the industry. Nominate leaders for the Radiology Business Forty Under 40 Awards!

Subscribe to receive Radiology Business newsletters directly in your inbox and stay updated on the latest healthcare stories.