Diagnostic Reading #26: Five “Must Read” Articles on HIT and Radiology from the Past Week
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Top news includes impact of collaboration with radiologists and telemedicine.
This week’s articles include: radiologists who collaborate with referring physicians can achieve better utilization of imaging exams; mobile devices can give patients control of their health data; VP Biden announces new data sharing initiatives to boost effectiveness in the fight against cancer; Americans are more concerned with healthcare costs than terrorist attacks; and the AMA embraces telemedicine after previously questioning its viability. 
Utilization management program points out positives of radiologist involvement
When radiologists collaborate with referring physicians to proactively manage imaging utilization, their participation has more weight tipping the scale toward success than does the specialty of the referrer. And the rad’s input has the greatest impact on primary care physicians who are heavy users of imaging exams.
‘Medicalized’ smartphones to put health data in hands of patients
The world is on the verge of a fourth industrial revolution, characterized by artificial intelligence, robots, big data and deep learning and analytics. But medicine is still stuck at the beginning of the third industrial revolution, which has already brought digital capabilities to billions of people worldwide. A Scripps Health cardiologist sees mobile devices as the technological enabler for the “democratization” of medicine by giving patients control of their own health data, which has historically been the exclusive domain of doctors.
Several data sharing efforts announced to power Cancer Moonshot
As part of his National Cancer Moonshot, Vice President Joe Biden announced new data sharing initiatives to double the rate of progress in the fight against cancer. Biden, whose son Beau died of cancer last year, made the announcements during a Cancer Moonshot Summit held in Washington.
Americans are more concerned with healthcare costs than terrorists
A Fox News poll released Wednesday night found Americans are more concerned about the price of healthcare than being attacked by Islamic terrorists. A net 85 percent of registered voters are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the cost of healthcare, according to the poll that had a 3 percent margin of error. That number is up 4 percentage points from earlier this month. Attacks by Islamic terrorists ranked fourth with 78 percent.
How the AMA is pushing telemedicine
The American Medical Association continues to see telemedicine as part of the future of the practice of medicine, and it took steps during its annual meeting to connect its members with new ways to deliver care. The AMA promoted distant and virtual care delivery as an appropriate way to treat some patients—in prior years the AMA had questioned the efficacy of telemedicine.
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