Strategic Radiology Launches Patient Safety Organization

With the intention of establishing “a safety organization that can serve as a national model,” Strategic Radiology (SR) of Palmetto is seeking formal AHRQ certification for its new Patient Safety Organization (PSO). The Palmetto, FL-based company is branding the new organization as Strategic Radiology Patient Safety Organization LLC. SR says it is the first of its kind to have been established by radiologists. Lisa Mead, RN, MS, CPHQ, will head up the PSO, which will be supported by all 15 of the SR member groups. Randal Roat, SR’s chief operating officer, told Imagingbiz that the diversity of that distributed network allowed it to take on the “litany of requirements” involved in establishing a PSO. “What we found is because we’re a group of independent groups, it allowed us to meet some of the requirements of multi-contracting,” Roat said, “whereas a single entity that just wanted to do this internally would have had a difficult time.” Roat said that the certification hinges on work product and evaluation system, and that it’s necessary to develop those “two huge components” with the help of a quality assurance expert. He added that the Strategic Radiology PSO will be “actively manned by physicians” who have “a significant amount of clinical expertise…a lot of technology talent and information analytical skills.” The formal certification process also requires the development of definitions built around the patient safety work product and the establishment of a patient safety evaluation system, Roat said. Although SR is still developing the metrics by which those things will be measured, he expects that the peer review component to be “off the ground very shortly.” “I would expect it to be additive over a course of time,” Roat said. “The directors are going to be looking at those things that would deliver the most value.” Ultimately, Roat said that taking on the project has energized the organization. “I think this is a great thing,” he said. “It’s a common issue that everybody can gather around and work to improve. It’s got a lot of energy behind it. We’re really excited about it.”