Medicare targets 'wasteful' IR procedures | 2nd opinion service redesign ups collections | ACR updates quality criteria

IRs criticized the CMS proposal, believing it could lead to excess morbidity and mortality in Medicare. 

OSU Medical Center has addressed common challenges including insufficient documentation, miscommunication, and the risk of repeat imaging. 

Education and other initiatives helped cut the rate of radiologist recommendations for additional imaging by 44% compared to a control site.  

Almost 2,000 children underwent musculoskeletal MRI over an eight-year stretch at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and not a single one of them needed sedation to get through the exam.

The startup has partnered with employers such as Walmart, providers and health plans (including BCBS Michigan) to steer patients to top imaging centers. 

For the first time, the ACR Appropriateness Criteria is providing guidance covering staging and follow-up of leukemia, the college said Tuesday. 

Raj Kedar, MD, chief of radiology at Tampa General Hospital, spoke on how to reduce the number of STAT imaging exams and inappropriate exams via staff education and additional questions of orders. 

Simple practice changes have helped Denver Health cut the time from exam order placement to initiation by about 47%. 

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine recently convened a panel of industry experts, devising a list of issues with the new quality metric. 

The call to action comes from a poll of over 500 specialists at a single academic institution, published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.  

“Unfortunately, the imbalance in available MIPS radiology measures is worsening,” said study co-author Lauren Nicola, MD, CEO of Triad Radiology Associates.