Other disease-specific studies, such as the one published in the 2007 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology looking att multi-slice coronary CT for evaluating acute chest pain, found that increased imaging could save up to $1.2 billion annually in the treatment of stroke patients. Additionally, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, CT scans have been found to significantly reduce the negative appendectomy rate and the number of unnecessary hospital admissions, saving $447 per patient since 1998.

We are proud of the industry’s accomplishments. But MITA recognizes the need to build on these successes and continuously seek innovations in our products that maximize effectiveness while minimizing risk to the patient.

In fact, industry innovations to medical imaging technologies over the past 20 years have reduced radiation doses for many procedures by up to 75 percent, while continually improving the ability of these technologies to aid physicians in diagnosing and treating disease.

Additionally, underlying the equipment innovations – which are reflective of broader changes in CT, X-ray and other radiation-emitting imaging technologies across the industry—is the industry’s support and commitment to the "as low as reasonably achievable" or ALARA principle.

The medical imaging community is committed to working both internally and with physicians, other providers, governmental agencies and patients to ensure appropriate safety assurances are met, or exceeded; training requirements are met, or exceeded; and reporting of adverse events is done in a transparent and timely manner.

Specifically, MITA endorses:

-Expanding and integrating appropriateness criteria into physician decision making.
-Creating a national dosage registry to ensure longitudinal tracking of dose levels for patients across America.
-Adopting a standardized method of storing of diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy information within electronic health records.
-Exploring the expansion of mandatory accreditation for advanced imaging facilities.
-Establishing minimum standards for training and education for hospital and imaging facility personnel who perform medical imaging exams and deliver radiation therapy treatments.
-Developing enhanced operational safety procedures and checklists to reduce medical errors.
-Expanding and standardizing the reporting of medical errors associated with medical radiation across stakeholders in a manner that is transparent for patients, families and physicians.

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