OBJECTIVE This study examines the relationship between evidence-based appropriateness criteria for neurologic imaging procedures and Medicare payment determinations. The primary research question is whether Medicare is more likely to pay for imaging procedures as the level of appropriateness increases. DATA SOURCES The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria (ACRAC) for neurolo...

agent technology is an emerging and promising research area in software technology, which increasingly contributes to the development of value-added information systems for large healthcare organizations due to its capability to automatically modify themselves in response to changes in their operating environment. multi agent system (mas) approach is the construction of a complex system as a se...

  Background: Knee pain is one of the most common reasons patients visit their physician. In this regard Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the tool of preference for diagnosis. The aim of this study was to determine appropriate guidelines for knee MRI administration using the RAND Appropriateness Method (RAM)-2013   Methods: This qualitative study was done in the Mashhad University of Medical...

BACKGROUND Appropriateness criteria for stress imaging have been published to promote the effective use of stress nuclear scintigraphy and stress echocardiography. We sought to evaluate the application of the stress echocardiography appropriateness criteria to patients undergoing stress echocardiography in an academic medical center. METHODS AND RESULTS The stress echocardiography criteria we...

For resectable gastric cancer, perioperative chemotherapy or adjuvant chemoradiation with chemotherapy are standards of care. The decision making for adjuvant therapeutic management can depend on the stage of the cancer, lymph node positivity, and extent of surgical resection. After gastric cancer resection, postoperative chemotherapy combined with chemoradiation should be incorporated in cases...

Management of resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma continues to present a challenge due to a paucity of high-quality randomized studies. Administration of adjuvant chemotherapy is widely accepted due to the high risk of systemic spread associated with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but the role of radiation therapy is less clear. This paper reviews literature associated with resectable pancreatic c...