Manufacturer Coalitions Take Radiological Safety Discussion International

The press release read like alphabet soup, but the message was very important. For the first time, MITA, COCIR and DITTA have met expressly for the purpose of discussing what manufacturers can do to further dose optimization and appropriate use criteria efforts in imaging. The meeting underscored the global priority of these patient safety and health care quality issues. MITA is of course the U.S. Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance. Its representatives were joined in Washington, D.C., by representatives from the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) and the Global Diagnostic Imaging, Healthcare IT, and Radiation Therapy Trade Association (DITTA) at the first Global Summit on Radiological Quality and Safety Summit -- a three-day meeting which naturally also got its own acronym of GSRQS. “The GSRQS Summit is a testament to the high prioritization of quality and safety in medical imaging,” said Gail Rodriguez, executive director of MITA, in the group’s press release. “We should continue to work together with international industry partners to ensure the universal adoption of quality initiatives by identifying best practices that can be harmonized and promoted together across the international community.” The GSRQS was originally conceived and developed by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the International Society of Radiology (ISR), MITA stated in the release.