HealthHelp and RadSite have teamed up to sponsor and publish the fourth edition of Medical Imaging Consultant (MIC4), a reference guide designed for health professionals, which also can be used by patients. The pocket guide provides critical information on 303 clinical conditions to promote the ordering of the appropriate medical imaging procedures. Each topic is carefully referenced with more than 800 peer reviewed medical journal articles to promote evidence-based imaging.
MIC4 helps ordering providers better understand the clinical efficacy of different medical imaging procedures, with a special emphasis on radiation exposure. The publication, with over 250 pages and hundreds of reference tables, provides easy access to the information necessary to determine what types of medical imaging procedures are the most appropriate.
The book’s primary author, William W. Orrison, Jr., MD, MBA, founding medical director of HealthHelp and now chief medical officer of RadSite, published the first edition in 2002. His vision was to create a universal reference guide that would provide physicians with the ability to order “the right test the first time.” When this goal is achieved, it eliminates the need to schedule subsequent procedures that may contribute very little additional information, and possibly increase both cost and radiation exposure to the patient.
“Our belief is that physicians taking care of the patient, armed with the best information—armed with the correct information—will make the best decision for the patient,” says Dr. Orrison. “The pocket guide Medical Imaging Consultant allows physicians to have all of the information necessary to choose the single best test.”
MIC4 organizes procedures in the order of diagnostic benefit, starting with the most helpful, and presents the information through an easy-to-understand scale of one to five. It offers fast access to 20 categories of clinical conditions, eight categories of anatomy and 24 general categories of procedures. This edition references effective radiation doses in a standardized format as measured by millisieverts, and updates CPT and CMS reimbursement data.
“Using the Medical Imaging Consultant will allow the physician and patient to assess the imaging that is being considered in an educated and informative way, Dr. Orrison says. “Medical Imaging Consultant will allow both parties to make informed decisions about the patient’s health and quality of care.”
In addition to the convenient way the book is organized, the guide also converts the different types of radiation units down to one common denominator, a single PA chest X-ray. In this unique way, a physician will know exactly how much radiation he or she is exposing a patient to with each procedure.
“Both HealthHelp and RadSite are excited to support this important publication to ensure that ordering providers are factoring in the best research and current patient safety information to protect individuals,” says Cherrill Farnsworth, CEO of HealthHelp and Advisory Board chair of RadSite. “MIC4 does a great job translating complex medical knowledge into actionable decision-making points.”
Other contributors to the book include Eric H. Hanson, MD, MPH; Phillip W. Patton, PhD, CHP, DABR; Anthony DeFrance, MD; and Mark Hiatt, MD, MBA, MS, HealthHelp’s current chief medical officer and RadSite Accreditation Committee chair.
Copies of the book are available for purchase for $39.95 either through RadSite’s website via the “RadSite Store” at www.radsitequality.com or through Amazon. Phone orders also can be placed with Inger Barnaby at (281) 582-1734.
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About RadSite (www.radsitequality.com)
The mission of RadSite is to promote quality-based practices for imaging systems across the United States and its territories. In recent years, RadSite has certified more than 20,000 imaging facilities covering at least 50,000 imaging systems. RadSite is expanding its activities and resources to serve patients, providers, payers, government agencies, and other stakeholder groups.

About HealthHelp (www.healthelp.com)
HealthHelp, a leader in specialty benefit management, generates significant savings and return on investment for health-care payers by enhancing physician knowledge, improving quality of care, and reducing unnecessary radiation exposure. Each of its programs addresses a different aspect of diagnostic imaging, cardiology, and radiation oncology. The clients of Houston-based HealthHelp administer local, statewide, and national health-care plans across the country.