RadiologyInfo™ Receives Aesculapius Award
RadiologyInfo™, the patient information Web site administered by RSNA and the American College of Radiology, has received an Aesculapius Award of Excellence. The site was among about a dozen honored.
Aesculapius Awards encourage excellence in patient communications about healthy lifestyles, disease prevention and healthcare treatments. A panel of judges, representing healthcare, Web publishing and multimedia, evaluates entries. The award is named for the ancient Greek god of healing, and was established by the Health Improvement Institute, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization based in Bethesda, Md.
More information about the Health Improvement Institute and the Aesculapius Award is available at www.hii.org. An article about the latest developments on RadiologyInfo.org, including new recorded procedure descriptions, will appear in the March 2009 issue of RSNA News.
ASTRO Changes Name
After 26 years as the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, ASTRO has changed its name to the American Society for Radiation Oncology. With its new name, ASTRO has also unveiled a new logo that will keep the acronym ASTRO by having the "T" represent ASTRO's tagline, "Targeting Cancer Care."
ASTRO's new name will better correlate with the term that ASTRO members use in their practices to communicate with patients, said ASTRO Chief Executive Officer Laura I. Thevenot.
This is the society's fourth name change since it was established as the American Club of Therapeutic Radiologists in 1958. Each name change has reflected the growth of membership and the society's growing identification with the practice of oncology. For more information, go to www.astro.org.
CMS Moves Closer to PET Coverage Expansion
A new national coverage determination (NCD) proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would expand coverage for initial diagnostic testing with PET.
Under its Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) program, CMS issued a 2005 national coverage determination that tied Medicare coverage of PET to the collection of clinical information about the effect of the test on the patient's cancer care. Information was obtained through the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR).
NOPR sponsors requested that CMS reconsider the 2005 coverage determination based on the evidence collected and published. The proposed coverage expansion represents the first time that CMS has reviewed medical evidence arising from its CED program.
The proposed NCD would remove a significant part of the CED requirement for PET scans in cancer and allow coverage for one PET scan to guide the initial treatment strategy. CED will still be required for PET scans for subsequent treatment strategies. CMS will issue a final national coverage determination in April.
FDA Issues Guidance on Handheld X-Ray
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has issued guidance to manufacturers regarding radiation safety and the type of recommendations manufacturers should provide to operators to promote safe use of handheld X-ray equipment.
According to the FDA, federal performance standards for diagnostic X-ray systems did not anticipate handheld systems and therefore don't address system performance attributes or protective measures in light of the operator's proximity to the source assembly and the patient. Handheld systems pose increased operator exposure concerns due to leakage radiation and backscatter radiation, the FDA stated.
The guidance goes on to define limits placed on leakage and backscatter radiation and offers methods of reduction, such as shielding the source assembly and providing external shielding.
A copy of the guidance is at www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocer/guidance/1680.pdf.
