Aheconline Blog

Bureau of Labor Statistics Lowers Estimate for RT Jobs

2008-03-04T16:19:00.003-06:00

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has lowered the demand estimate for RT's that will be required by the year2016. It now appears that we will be oversupplied by 33% in radiography, 91% in radiation therapy, and 182% in nuclear medicine. They also lowered the projected need for sonographers by 35%. How did this happen?

It has been difficult for the past two years for graduates of programs to find the type of job that they had envisioned when they started training. Programs continue to open and expand and dump graduates onto a market that is over saturated. How can we get them to stop?

We constantly compare our field of training to that of nursing, however, we did not take a lesson well in how to compete with them, because they have not overtrained and do not have a surplus and are still in demand. Why don't we listen?

We moved our programs to educational institutions where the driving factor is how much state allocations of funds can be obtained to support the school. Are we still in control? Can we lower enrollment? Can we save ourselves?

United Healthcare Delays Accreditation Deadline

2008-02-05T12:25:00.000-06:00

United Healthcare has released the announcement that they are delaying the deadline for requiring all freestanding imaging facilities and physician offices performing echo procedures to apply for accreditation. The new deadline is for the third quarter of 2008. Even though many facilities have been notified, the movement toward accreditation has been slow.

Accreditation means having personnel that can demonstrate training, continuing education, and experience. Certification in the discipline demonstrates competency in the procedure.

Applications for certification are increasing in all modalities, CT, MR, ultrasound, quality improvement. If you haven't looked up and seen this coming, it is time to look again.

FDA Regulating Stereotactic Breast Biopsy

2008-01-22T09:40:00.000-06:00

The FDA/MQSA meeting in November of 2007 focused on regulating stereotactic breast biopsy. You can read the entire transcript (@237 pages) which includes comments and presentations on the subject from the panel members and attendees at the FDA Mammograpy website.
There are 2300 units in operation in the United States and only 20% are accredited. The American College of Radiology and the American College of Surgeons each have a voluntary accreditation program in place. The American College of Surgeons has accredited 4 units through its program. The rest are accredited through the American College of Radiology. 25% of the applicants failed the accreditation process on their first attempt due to image quality and dose issues. The representatives from the surgeons aspect of the discussion made pleas for data to be collected to determine if there really is a need for accreditation/regulation and made it quite clear that their stand was aganist mandatory accreditation/regulation. The representatives from the radiologists/technologists aspect of the discussion made it quite clear that there is already data (failed accreditation's, lack of facilities opting for voluntary accreditation) to justify the need for mandatory accreditation/regulation. In the end the panel members voted in favor of the FDA regulating stereotactic breast biopsy.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the FDA should regulate Stereotactic Breast Biopsy?

Are you blog challenged?

2008-01-18T15:09:00.000-06:00

Blogging for some of us is a whole new life experience. It is right up there with text messaging and the My Space phenomena. The wonderment of how it all works is beyond me, but I decided if I could master basic text messaging I would broaden my horizons and give "blogging" a try. After all I did keep up with CNN's Nancy Grace's blog while she was off on maternity leave!

When I say I mastered text messaging, let me clarify. I may have stretched the truth just a little, because I still correctly spell out all of the words before pressing send. Texting lingo for me is kin to the "Pig Latin" I learned when I was a kid. (If you know about "Pig Latin" we may be experiencing some of the same anxiety about texting and all of those abbreviations!) So I struggle with all of the "texting lingo" and still think dialing the number is much easier but think it is special to get a text message and picture from my one month old granddaughter.

The page I have on My Space is void of the high technology of the pages of "my friends" but it serves it's purpose. I know how to hit the home button to get back to where I started from and I can't tell you how much fun I have had looking at "my friends" pictures of their families. So if I can go from being a bloggee (a passive reader of blogs) to an active blogger, you have to join in the fun!

How's Your Medical Credit Score?

2008-01-18T11:43:00.000-06:00

The folks who invented the credit score for lending institutions are hard at work developing a similar tool for hospitals and other health care providers.

The project is called "MedFICO" and will give hospitals the ability to assess a patient's ability to pay their medical bills. It would be used in a similar manner as your credit score. Developed by Healthcare Analytics, the firm is already gathering payment history information from hospitals around the country according to the magazine Inside ARM which is targeted to accounts receiveable management professionals. The data is supposed to predict how likely patients will be to pay future medical bills. A spokesman for the company refuses to confirm published details aabout the company's work saying it is too early in the product cycle. They say that MedFICO does not exist. But, it does raise all kinds of questions about the medical privacy issues and what medical risk scoring would mean in the laws meant to protect the consumer.

Are we coming to the point where if you can not pay, you do not receive care?

Are we killing our patients?

2008-01-15T08:51:00.000-06:00

Do we really deliver the correct patient care only 55% of the time? A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported this fact. Another published statistic says that out of every 100 patient charts reviewed, 33 patients will have an adverse event, 7 patients will have 2 adverse events, and there will one preventable death. Pretty scary, huh?

JCAHO studies report that 70% of the adverse events in our hospitals are the result of poor communication. These reports have triggered a reaction in the third party payers demanding improvement in the quality of care. United Healthcare started with radiology because it comprises 15 to 20 % of their costs and they think the overutilization lies between 30 to 50%. It seems that as we add the newer technologies, we are still ordering the older technologies, so we keep increasing the imaging costs.

So, get ready for more accreditation, regulation, and precertification. In order to get paid, we are going to have to prove competency, training and experience. No longer will "basket weaving for technologists" suffice for relevant education.

Along with the necessary hard technical skills, a good dose of communication, customer service, and leadership skills must be incorporated into our continuing education. Those that exceed will succeed!