Leading research institutions are making breakthroughs in advanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc.’s Vantage Titan 3.0T MR system. Toshiba has partnered with Shands at the University of Florida and the Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC) for MR research in fMRI, as well as body and cardiac imaging.

More than three years after the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against routine mammogram screening for women between the ages of 40 and 49, a study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that mammogram rates in the United States have not declined in that age group, or any other. The study results are published in the online journal Cancer.

HealthTrust has awarded IRadimed Corp. a contract for its MRidium magnet resonance imaging (MRI) Infusion Pump Systems. The agreement makes the MRidium systems available to the more than 1,400 nonprofit and for-profit acute care facility members served by HealthTrust. The MRidium System was awarded the contract under HealthTrust's MR Compatible IV Pump category.

Sen. Stan Bingham and Sen. Wesley Meredith have introduced a bill in the North Carolina legislature that will require individuals to secure a license before performing medical imaging and radiation therapy procedures.

The Obama administration has released the long-anticipated budget proposal for fiscal 2014. Although the document did not include specific reductions in reimbursement for advanced diagnostic imaging services, the fiscal 2014 budget would largely exclude certain imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception (IOASE) to the Stark self-referral law and calls for prior authorization for advanced imaging services.