The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 became effective on January 1, 2007 and will impose significant Medicare reimbursement cuts for MRI, CT, PET, bone densitometry, nuclear medicine and ultrasound on outpatient imaging centers.

Routine use of five simple, evidence-based interventions essentially eliminated catheter-related bloodstream infections in 103 intensive-care units at 67 hospitals over an 18-month period, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The interventions were the washing of hands; using full-barrier precautions during insertion of central venous catheters; cleansing the catheter insertion site with chlorhexidine; avoiding femoral vein catheter sites; and removing unnecessary catheters.

The physician assistant workforce rose an estimated 8 percent in 2006 and is projected to total about 63,600 as of Jan. 1, 2007, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants. The Alexandria, Va.-based professional group estimated 85 percent of those eligible to practice as physician assistants are in the workforce, up from 83 percent a year ago. On average, physician assistants’ income rose 4 percent to $84,396 in 2006 from $81,129 in 2005, after adjusting for inflation.

Kodak recently introduced Orthoview Orthopaedic Digital Imaging Software designed to assist orthopaedic surgeons in performing pre-operative planning and templating. The new solution is an upgrade to Kodak’s Carestream PACS and adds new digital imaging measurement and pre-operative tools that can be used in treating both pediatric and adult patients.

Agfa HealthCare recently signed a new $35 million a year, dual-source contract with Premier Purchasing Partners L.P. for three-years, in which Agfa will provide Computed Radiography (CR) products to the alliance’s 1,700 member hospitals and more than 43,000 other healthcare delivery sites.

UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, MN, said the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal investigation into its historical stock-option granting practices. In its latest SEC filing, the nation’s second largest health insurer said it was notified of the probe on Dec. 19. The company had been the subject of an informal SEC inquiry since April, when it fell under scrutiny for allegedly manipulating the timing of stock options granted to former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William McGuire.

The University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, agreed to pay nearly $2.3 million to settle Medicare fraud allegations, the U.S. attorney in Miami announced. The settlement is part of a decade-old investigation into the payment of physicians at teaching hospitals. The PATH investigation looks at how teaching hospitals bill for the services of resident and intern physicians and the faculty physicians who supervise them.

Verizon Communications issued a release stating that chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg has committed the company's support to four goals proposed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to improve health care quality and reduce costs through increased use of technology and providing more information to consumers.

Coastal Healthcare Consulting Inc. a provider of information technology consulting services for healthcare facilities, has received the "Best in KLAS" designation for the
Supportive Clinical Implementation services market segment for the second consecutive year.

Baxter Healthcare has received conditional approval from the FDA for the corrective action plan it developed for COLEAGUE infusion pumps — this comes three months following FDA’s seizure of COLLEAGUE pumps at the company’s northern Illinois warehouses over design and user interface issues.

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