Selective use of preoperative breast MRI does not appear to decrease the reoperation rate in women with breast cancer, according to a study published Sept. 17 in Archives of Surgery. The researchers also reported that breast MR overestimated the extent of disease in some patients.

ProScan Imaging, which provides professional medical imaging services through a multi-state network of imaging centers, has installed Hitachi Medical Systems' Echelon oval high-field MR.

It seems fitting that days before National Health IT Week commenced, the Institute of Medicine released a report calling for the improved use of health IT to drive healthcare quality forward.

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has released the SCAI Quality Improvement Toolkit (SCAI-QIT) AUC and Guidelines App, a mobile application (app) that seeks to help interventional cardiologists determine whether their patients are appropriate for percutaneous coronary intervention.

The Federal Communications Commission published its final rule Sept. 11 in the Federal Register that will allow for the expansion of wireless spectrums to include medical body area network devices.

Its not a fashion statement; its a functional mobile health (mHealth) tool. The proliferation of health IT and mobile devices have made patient health information increasingly portable and researchers are currently developing two wearable devices that could propel mHealth to another level.

 Relying on 60 years of qualitative studies, researchers have developed an instrument to measure the continuity of care from a patient perspective. They described the tool and its development in the September/October issue of Annals of Family Medicine.

In an analysis of the cost-savings achieved by an earlier pilot program, the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration (PGPD), researchers found modest estimates of overall savings associated with the PGPD, but larger savings among the dually eligible patients (Medicare and Medicaid), with savings achieved in large part through reductions in hospitalizations, according to a study published Sept. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.