January 7, 2013 | Vol. 1

feature story
Imaging and Radiation Therapy Cuts in Fiscal Cliff Package Harm Patients and Threaten American Manufacturing Jobs

MITA Urges Congress to Reverse Job-Killing Medical Device Tax and Reject Devastating
Imaging and Radiation Therapy Cuts

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) said that failure to delay the new medical device excise tax, along with Medicare cuts for imaging
and radiation therapy services passed by
Congress as part of the “fiscal cliff” package, will hinder patients’ access to early disease detection and therapy services and threaten American medical technology jobs.

The legislation reduces physician office Medicare payments for advanced imaging services by $800 million and hospital reimbursements for radiation therapy by $300 million over ten years. These cuts are in addition to the more than $1 billion in cuts for imaging and radiation therapy services put in place earlier in 2012.

Further, MITA said that Congress’ refusal to address the 2.3 percent medical device tax as part of the fiscal cliff package will harm America’s global leadership in the development of innovative medical imaging technologies and is estimated to cost up to 43,000 medical technology jobs in the U.S.

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Standardizations Trends Guidelines on the Application of Dimming to High-Intensity Discharge Lamps With the increasing emphasis on energy efficiency, attention is being focused on the application of control systems that include dimming functions for High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting systems for both indoor and outdoor lighting. Labeling and Transportation of Lamps Containing Radioactive Substances The radioactivity hazard posed by these lamps is negligible, and, conceptually is similar to the use of small levels of radioactive materials in smoke alarms and some watches. Global Intelligence North American EBCIs Close 2012 on a Positive Note NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American business conditions extended its late-year rally in December, climbing for a fourth month in a row to 63.9. Market Comments by Tom Robinson Tom Robinson, Ph.D., President Oppenheimer Asset Management, shares his take on the economy in a weekly column Market Comments, which is republished here each Monday. His column provides a quick summary of key economic data releases from the previous week as well as insight about likely developments in financial markets. read more...
Job Title	Company Name
Chair, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering	University of New Mexico
Senior Clinical Quality RN! Telecommuting! - 506741	UnitedHealth Group
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