News From Around the Web
> Is virtual autopsy the future of forensic pathology? A group of radiologists and pathologists in Zurich, Switzerland are using CT and MRI to create 3-D images of intact cadavers to help solve murders and crimes. The result, according to Michael Thali, a professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, is a technology that is "all seeing" and more objective than conventional autopsies, which destroy tissue and can only be recorded and photographed in two dimensions. Article
> The American College of Radiology has reported that the Dose Index Registry, launched in 2011, now includes more than 5.5 million CT scans. The registry collects anonymized dose information and gives providers regional and national benchmarks with which they can check their own dose indices. Article
> Alzheimer's disease could have another contributing cause, according to an imaging study published in JAMA Neurology. Researchers, in looking at data from 100 participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, found that damage to small blood vessels in the brain (white matter hyperintensities) could be a secondary risk factor leading to the disease. Article
Health IT News
> Electronic prescribing through computerized physician order entry averted 17.4 million medication errors in the U.S. in a single year, according to researchers publishing in the Journal American Medical Informatics. Article
Health Finance News
> Hospitals in New Hampshire and Utah are seeing significant spikes in levels of uncompensated care, a trend that could foretell similar financial issues for acute care providers in other parts of the country. Article
And Finally… The Birds--Part II. Article