Owners and staff of breast imaging centers are continually challenged with being cost effective and time efficient while providing quality patient care. The overhead expenses for maintaining breast imaging centers have continually increased and obtaining reimbursement has become even more challenging. Doing smart business and offering compassionate patient care can be a tricky balancing act and one that requires a resourceful use of equipment and a staff with versatile clinical capabilities and skills.

Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Collins, CEO and co-founder, Medipattern Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Asserting itself as a primary line of offense in the cancer treatment process, computer-aided detection (CAD) technology represents a significant step forward in helping clinicians pinpoint suspicious tissue.

An important change is occurring in the practice of screening mammography. The availability and acceptance of full-field digital mammography is gaining momentum and with it, the practice of using soft copy for interpretation.

Remarkable technological advances in materials and energy sources have revolutionized surgical and exam lighting, and the outpatient care arena is beginning to reap the benefits.
It wasn’t long ago that surgeons and office-based physicians labored under clumsy, excessively hot incandescent light domes. But today, sophisticated systems use newer energy sources such as halogen (quartz and tungsten), gas mixtures such as xenon plasma and the newest – light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Before his resignation in 2006 as the Bush Administration’s national healthcare IT czar, Dr. David Brailer had been passionately promoting the value of electronic health records (EHRs) for about two years. From a strategic point of view, what kind of progress do you think he made in convincing healthcare facilities to adopt and implement this technology? And how should healthcare facilities interpret his resignation?

CHICAGO – The Radiological Society of North America’s annual scientific assembly and technological toolbox closed out 2006 showcasing some intriguing developments that portend the progressive impact of information technology, along with the revitalization of some fundamental modalities and products.
The yearly conference and exhibition, which immediately follows the Thanksgiving holiday in Chicago’s McCormick Place, provided nearly 30,000 radiologists and other related healthcare professionals with peeks into what’s hot in diagnostic imaging and IT-related market segments.

As hard as the industry tried to defeat the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), it is here for at least the near future. The earliest we can expect relief is January 2008 if the winds of reasonability fall upon Congress. The lack of benchmarks and objective evidence supporting the cost of service was one of many challenges lobbyists faced over the past 10 months. Thus, outcomes for the outpatient imaging industry have become bleak. The industry is going to have to tighten its belt to survive.

For years, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has assisted doctors in contouring radiation beams around anatomical structures to target tumors. As tumors or organs shift, however, the beam can fall off target and damage surrounding healthy tissue. With image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), which allows physicians to scan and locate the tumor while the patient is in the treatment position, the volume of healthy tissue exposed to radiation during treatment has shrunk from half an inch or more


When you picked up your copy of the February/March 2007 edition of Outpatient Care Technology you may have noticed something a little different. Honestly, your mind’s eye isn’t playing tricks on you. And neither are we.
Following closely on the heels of OPCT’s redesigned and relaunched Web site, the staff here spent much of the last half of 2006 massaging and updating the visual appeal of the magazine and its three sister publications, Imaging Technology News, Diagnostic & Invasive Cardiology and Acuity Care Technology.

March 2, 2007 - Saitek Industries Ltd. recently announced the shipment of its backlit keyboard, the Eclipse Red, a slim computer keyboard with backlighting which can reportedly be used in dimly-lit corridors or any type of low-light or no-light situation, targeted to the medical community.

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