RBMs in New Orleans: The Panel and the Pain

July 04, 2011 | Priors

On June 7, 2011, at the Annual Summit of the RBMA in New Orleans, Louisiana, four CEOs and one senior leader—representing all five radiology benefit management (RBM) companies—participated in a panel discussion during a general session, “Face to Face With RBM CEOs: Shaping the Dialogue for Imaging’s New... Read More »

Clinical Decision Support: The Journey Begins

February 16, 2011 | Feature

Is it goodbye to radiology benefit management (RBM) companies and hello to automated decision-support systems? Not really, as the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Nonetheless, computerized decision-support tools are gaining ground in the outpatient setting.

With CMS about to begin a Medicare decision-support demonstration project for high-end... Read More »

Where Is the Alignment Behind Decision Support?

February 16, 2011 | The Bottom Line

The lack of consensus (and vision) in the imaging community is readily apparent when the topic of clinical decision support is raised. Clinical decision support allows for electronic documentation of the appropriateness of the imaging service ordered and provided, offering clinicians real-time guidance, rather than black-box rules.

Medicare Imaging Demonstration Project: CMS Rolls the Dice on Decision Support

November 28, 2010 | Feature

Automated decision-support systems to guide physicians who order advanced imaging exams for their patients have been promoted for years, but there have been few implementations. Now, CMS is launching a pilot study to see how well decision support works. It is the first test of decision-support systems applied on... Read More »

Will Decision Support Deflect Preauthorization?

October 13, 2010 | Feature

Decision support might be able to remove the target taped to radiology’s back, according to a tandem presentation that was made by two of the specialty’s respected leaders on May 3, 2010, at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in San Diego, California. Pat A. Basu,... Read More »

Can Decision Support Supplant Precertification?

July 04, 2010 | The Bottom Line

Health-care reform is here, and it’s the DRA all over again (but on steroids). Adjustments to the RVU for equipment utilization have increased from 50% to 62.5% for 2010 and will be capped at 75% for 2011 (for MRI and CT only). On July 1, the reduction in CT, MRI, and ultrasound technical-component reimbursement... Read More »

Using Next-generation IT Tools to Improve Appropriateness

January 10, 2010 | Data Central

It might well have been the unofficial theme of RSNA 2009 in Chicago, Illinois: “You can’t change what you can’t measure.” Opening his December 2 session on health IT with those very words, Ramin Khorasani, MD, outlined how next-generation IT tools can be leveraged by radiology... Read More »

Coalition Forms to Promote Clinical Decision-support Tools

July 15, 2009 | Regulatory Report

In June, an alliance of health care providers, technology vendors, and imaging organizations announced the formation of the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition, an initiative aimed at promoting health-IT–enabled clinical decision support as a means of determining the appropriateness of diagnostic imaging services. Members of the coalition include the ACR;... Read More »

RBMs: The Debate Heats Up

July 01, 2009 | Feature

After a false start, RBMs have come on strong, but the advent of computerized physician order entry leads some to believe there are better ways to control imaging utilization

Ask radiology benefit management (RBM) companies who benefits from their work, and they will claim that everybody does:... Read More »

MGH Decision-support Study: A Shot Across the RBM Bow

April 15, 2009 | Reading Room

A new study1 finding that radiology order-entry (ROE) and decision-support (DS) tools act to curtail utilization rates for advanced imaging is being celebrated as proof that a White House proposal to deploy radiology benefit managers (RBMs) as Medicare gatekeepers is unnecessary and ill conceived.

“This fits right... Read More »

Precertification: The Provider Foots the Bill

June 15, 2008 | NONE

Is radiology benefit management (RBM) companies extend the reach of precertification and preauthorization programs, hospitals and physician practices across the nation are incurring significant personnel and software costs in their efforts to manage program requirements.

Precertification and preauthorization both refer to the need to get prior approval... Read More »

RBM to Broker Teleradiology Services

June 15, 2008 | Strategic Planning

A corporate offshoot of radiology benefit management (RBM) company MedSolutions, Nashville, Tenn, has begun marketing a program of subspecialized teleradiology services to payors.

Called Premerus, the new company describes the program in a video demonstration on its Web site (www.premerus.com/), characterizing diagnostic error as “a... Read More »

Street Scan: Forecast Cloudy, Destination Unknown

April 15, 2007 | NONE

Two major imaging center organizations released their annual 10-K reports last month, providing the first official projections of the impact of the DRA on corporate imaging center companies. Not surprisingly, the DRA figured prominently in the risk factors section for both MQ Associates, Alpharetta, Ga, which owns MedQuest, and... Read More »