Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Radiation Exposure Varies Widely in CT Scans, Medicare Wants Data

New regulations that began in January require hospitals and outpatient centers in certain Medicare quality payment programs to collect and report data summarizing the radiation doses resulting from the computed tomography (CT) scans they deliver. The rule is meant to improve patient safety by tracking the wide variation in radiation exposure—the doses can vary by an order of magnitude of tenfold or more. According to Kaiser Health News, providers must comply with data reporting rules …

Imaging: X-Rays and Computed Tomography

Q. I understand that there will be reductions for x-ray reimbursements from Medicare in 2017. Is this true? A. To give imaging providers an additional incentive to adopt more advanced x-ray technology, Medicare will reduce reimbursement, beginning in 2017, for the technical component (and the technical component of the global fee) in claims submitted for x-rays performed with analog equipment. The cuts will continue in future years for those using computed radiography equipment (Table 1). …