The Social Security Administration is seeking to expand the number of healthcare providers with which it electronically exchanges medical information in order to improve the speed and accuracy of its disability determinations. Connection software is free and downloadable.

The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) has released a statement of "concern" over the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) recent recommendations to President Barack Obama and Congress to reduce Medicare reimbursement rates for medical imaging and radiation therapies through an increase of 90 percent in assumed utilization rates for outpatient imaging and radiation facilities.

About 45,000 office-based physicians--including nearly all physicians who practice at federally qualified health centers and half of office-based pediatricians--may be eligible for up to $63,750 to improve and maintain their health IT systems because of their participation in Medicaid, according to an analysis by researchers at the George Washington University.

For young children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with headache but normal neurologic exam findings and a non-worrying history, CT scans seldom lead to diagnosis or contribute to immediate management, according to a single-center study in the July issue of Pediatrics.

European healthcare is increasingly becoming digitized and there is growing need to develop and deploy sophisticated information systems. However, a new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan suggests that wireless health IT has yet to be fully explored by the healthcare industry.

Hyland Software has purchased Valco Data Systems, a healthcare provider of document management, document imaging, workflow and health information management integration solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Although mobile technology adds value to healthcare, a new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan questions whether advances in technology pose a security threat, as information transmitted across a wireless network should be accessible only to authorized users.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has found that the blanket noncoverage of MRI for blood flow determination is no longer supported by the available evidence. Therefore, the agency is proposing to remove the phrase "blood flow measurement," from the nationally noncovered indications at 220.2 of the National Coverage Determinations Manual.