UnityPoint Health, formerly Iowa Healthcare, a multi-city integrated delivery system based in Des Moines, Iowa, recently consolidated and standardized technology in a transformation aimed at empowering primary care physicians to take the lead in care coordination for patients. Todd Holling, assistant director of clinical applications for UnityPoint Health, explains what they are trying to achieve and how healthcare IT is helping them reach their goals. 

Clinical Decision Support for Imaging

Congress recently passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R. 4302) that delays a 24 percent Medicare physician payment cut for 12 months. The legislation also requires use of appropriate use criteria (AUC) and clinical decision support (CDS) software to get Medicare reimbursement, which will likely shift focus onto IT vendors who can supply this software. In addition, the use of CDS is part of Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for electronic medical records (EMR), so the new Medicare requirements will move CDS up on many IT departments’ priority lists.
CDH Proton Center utilizes a gantry that rotates completely around a patient as well as robotic patient positioners that put the patient in the right position.
CDH Proton Center is the first and only proton center in Illinois, the second center in the Midwest and one of only 14 proton centers nationwide.
Ronald McDonald House near Cadence Health - CDH Campus.

Proton therapy is becoming more prevalent in cancer treatment as it is the most advanced form of radiation available. Proton beams are more precise, treating complex tumors while avoiding healthy tissues and critical structures. Proton therapy centers are beginning to spring up around the United States as physicians continue to see the benefits in cancer treatment. One center that has garnered much attention is the CDH Proton Center in Warrenville, Ill. 
Improvements in PET/CT Systems

Since entering the market in 2001, PET/CT (positron emission tomography/computed tomography) has come a long way in combining the benefits of individual PET and CT imaging. Last year saw the release of several new innovative technologies, marking improvements on previous generations of PET/CT, such as continuous data acquisition and bed motion, as well as higher image resolutions.

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is growing both domestically and internationally, rebounding from the slump that hit the market in 2008-2009. Vendors have seen an increase in system utilization. According to Stuart Clarkson, senior director of the MR business unit at Siemens Healthcare, “We’ve seen approximately 3 to 4 percent growth in the number of scans this year versus the previous year. So, we like to think that MR is still a growing imaging modality.” 

 

ECRI Institute healthcare market researchers said manufacturers developed intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) technology to improve conventional image-guided neurosurgery techniques that rely on preoperative patient scans for guidance during the procedure. 

A new technique that brings computed tomography (CT) imaging into the operating room will allow surgeons to precisely demarcate and remove small sub-centimeter lung nodules, leaving as much healthy tissue as possible, according to Raphael Bueno, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. 

Founded nearly 25 years ago and based in Cincinnati, ProScan Imaging is one of the largest privately held teleradiology companies in the world. ProScan provides teleradiology services for more than 300 locations across North America and around the globe. In addition, the company owns and operates 26 outpatient imaging centers in seven states, and WorldCare Clinical, which collects and assesses medical images in support of clinical research trials. 

According to the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), there are more than 1.6 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed globally each year. This number has been increasing at a rate of 3.1 percent per year. As Prof. Peter Boyle, director of the University of Strathclyde Institute of Global Public Health at the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI) in Lyon, France, told conference-goers at the European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9), “We need to make a reduction in the number of women developing and dying from breast cancer a global priority.”
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