American College of Radiology touts 11 new quality measures
The American College of Radiology recently announced 11 new quality measures for 2020, with plans to submit some to the feds later this year for use in payment incentive programs.
ACR and its National Radiology Data Registry team said these measures are aimed at encouraging appropriate imaging follow-up, proper documentation of the final report and use of low-dose CT.
The 11 measures were recently added as part of the General Radiology Improvement Database, ACR noted in an announcement. And seven of them are also available to use in Merit-based Incentive Payment System reporting through the ACR’s Qualified Clinical Data Registry.
However, radiologists can currently only use those seven measures when reporting via the General Radiology Improvement Database. Officials are eyeing to submit them to CMS as part of its “call for measures” this year so that they’d become MIPS measures in future reporting years. But to do so, the post noted, ACR needs data to prove that they can be implemented at the practice level.
“Potential early adopters are encouraged to contact the [National Radiology Data Registry] team at nrdrsupport@acr.org for more information,” the college wrote.
ACR first established the registry in 2008 as a vehicle to provide benchmarks and comparisons to help imaging facilities improve patient care. ACR convened two expert panels in recent years to devise these new guidelines.
Here are the new quality measures (you can read about them in greater detail in this document):
- Recommended Follow-up for Imaging Findings.
- Appropriateness: Follow-up CT Imaging for Incidentally-Detected Pulmonary Nodules According to Recommended Guidelines.
- Follow-up Recommendations for Incidental Findings of Simple-Appearing Cystic Renal Masses.
- Appropriate Follow-up Imaging for Benign Adrenal Masses.
- *Interpretation of CT Pulmonary Angiography for Pulmonary Embolism.
- *Incidental Coronary Artery Calcification Reported on Chest CT.
- *Use of Structured Reporting in Prostate MRI.
- *Surveillance Imaging for Liver Nodules <10 mm in Patients at Risk for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
- *Use of Quantitative Criteria for Oncologic FDG PET Imaging.
- *Use of Low Dose Cranial CT or MRI Examinations for Patients with Ventricular Shunts.
- *Use of Low Dose CT Studies for Adults with Suspicion of Urolithiasis or Nephrolithiasis.
*Indicates that the measure is also available for MIPS reporting through the Qualified Clinical Data Registry.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.