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MedSolutions Co-Sponsors Upcoming Conference on Radiation Exposure and Cardiac Imaging
[November 12, 2012]

MedSolutions Co-Sponsors Upcoming Conference on Radiation Exposure and Cardiac Imaging


FRANKLIN, Tenn. --(Business Wire)--

MedSolutions, a leading provider of medical cost management services, is co-sponsoring "Patient-Centered Imaging - Shared Decision Making for Cardiac Imaging Procedures with Exposure to Ionizing Radiation," a conference to be held November 16-17, 2012, at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

The NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH-NHLBI), American Heart Association (AHA), American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), along with Dr. Leslee Shaw of Emory University School of Medicine, are serving as conference hosts.

"Advances in cardiac imaging have greatly enhanced our ability to diagnose patients. However, exposure to radiation is a key element of many of these important tests and, in turn, relevant risk is associated with them. The broader healthcare community has to work together to encourage the most appropriate use of cardiac imaging," said Dr. Gregg P. Allen, executive vice president and chief medical officer for MedSolutions. "We believe this is an important patient safety issue, which is why we are proud to support this conference."

The conference will bring together clinical cardiac imaging experts, physicists, and related scientists in the fields of medical education, medical ethics and information technology. The objectives are to identify ays to effectively educate both providers and patients about radiation exposure, and to create clinical tools for laboratory reporting and tracking of radiation exposure, including the utilization of dose reduction strategies.



While several recent reports have highlighted the overall growth in medical imaging using ionizing radiation, cardiac imaging tests can carry especially serious risks for patients. A report published by The New England Journal of Medicine found that cardiovascular imaging contributed to more than 29 percent of all radiation exposure from medical imaging, with myocardial perfusion imaging alone accounting for 22 percent.

"The trends we are seeing indicate a real need to ensure that the care delivered to people, including related imaging tests, is provided in a patient-centric manner and that radiation exposure is optimized," said Dr. Allen. "Through our management programs for cardiac imaging, this is an issue we're focused on every day, and we look forward to helping determine the broader steps that will be taken to keep patients safe and improve the quality of care they receive."


To register for this conference or to receive more information, please contact Dana Oliver at [email protected] or 404-727-3780.

About MedSolutions

MedSolutions is a medical cost management company, saving money for health plans and people by improving patient care. We achieve this through management programs for advanced imaging, cardiac imaging, radiation therapy, ultrasound, sleep management, oncology, spine surgery and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), as well as our groundbreaking Premerus® program, which ensures that patients receive expert diagnoses. We approach everything we do like a treating physician. We base our guidelines on patient symptoms. Our doctors and nurses review patient cases within their specialties. We reward physicians who consistently provide the best care. MedSolutions aligns the best interests of health plans, physicians and, most importantly, patients. We are proud to help 27 million Americans receive higher quality, lower cost healthcare. MedSolutions has been recognized for outstanding customer service and effective call center management by the International Customer Management Institute and for four consecutive years by the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Award. Visit www.medsolutions.com.


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