News From Around the Web
> James A. Brink, M.D., radiologist-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been named the new chair of RADPAC, the political action committee for the American College of Radiology Association. "I'm very excited to take over as chair of RADPAC," Brink said in a statement. "The dollars we raise are the fuel that powers our advocacy and government relations efforts that are so critical to the future of our specialty." Announcement
> Radiation treatments for testicular cancer increase a patient's risk of developing stomach cancer, according to a study in the British Journal of Cancer. "When radiation therapy (including a boost to the upper abdomen) is considered in testicular cancer treatment plans with curative intent, clinicians and patients should be aware of radiation-related stomach cancer risk that persists for more than 20 years, and carefully consider the short- and long-term risks and benefits of therapy in their decision making," study lead author Michael Hauptmann, a biostatistician at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, told Reuters Health. Article
> More than 100 million Americans go online annually to research healthcare-related information to assist with decision making, but according to a study in Academic Radiology, online information about mammography is too difficult for the average American to read. Article
Health IT News
> House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) called ICD-10 "an important milestone in the future of healthcare technologies," in a statement this week on implementation of the coding set. The congressmen say they'll continue to work closely with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to "ensure that the deadline can successfully be met by stakeholders." Article
Health Finance News
> A new report by the Consumer Financial Bureau (CFPB) paints an unsettling portrait as to the extent of medical debt in the U.S. and how it affects individual patients. Approximately 42.9 million Americans have medical debt that has not yet been paid, according to the agency. Altogether, 52 percent of debt that gets reported to collection agencies is medical in nature, the CFPB said. Article
And Finally... Banned from bingo. Article