Quality

The focus of quality improvement in healthcare is to bolster performance and processes related to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Leaders in this space also ensure the proper selection of imaging exams and procedures, and monitor the safety of services, among other duties. Reimbursement programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) utilize financial incentives to improve quality. This also includes setting and maintaining care quality initiatives, such as the requirements set by the Joint Commission.

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Standardized Imaging Protocols - The Next Step For Providers Seeking Consistency, Added Value

Over the last several years, there has been an increased focus throughout the imaging industry on imaging protocol standardization, or more often, the lack thereof.

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Fulfilling the VNA Promise - How to Get the Most Out of Your Facility's Vendor-Neutral Archive

In the not-too-distant past, picture archiving communication systems, or PACS, were the backbone of every image capture and storage strategy. However, the tide is turning as some healthcare providers gravitate toward vendor-neutral archives (VNAs), in which images and clinical data are stored in a standard format and with a standard interface that make them accessible by systems from disparate vendors.

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HIMSS17 Spotlight: Imaging societies join forces to tackle enterprise imaging

Not everyone in the medical imaging community is involved with enterprise imaging, but nearly every stakeholder is at least thinking and talking about it. The concept represents an eminently logical next big step in the technology-driven evolution of U.S. healthcare delivery: Imagine a world in which any diagnostic image captured from any image-producing specialty is viewable by any credentialed clinician anywhere and at any time. 

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Radiology’s Role as a Value Center: How to Excel in Both Quality and Accountability

Our University of Utah Health Care system was recently ranked No. 1 in Vizient’s 2016 Quality and Accountability Study Rankings. One critical contribution to this success was an innovative cost/outcome accounting system called Value Driven Outcomes (VDO). Created by Vivian S. Lee, MD, PhD, MBA, senior vice president, dean of the school of medicine and the CEO of the University of Utah Health Care System, VDO captures the true costs of healthcare across the entire enterprise and connects them to patient outcomes, supporting growth through the value equation: Value = (Quality + Service) / Cost.

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Practice Leaders Can Improve Care by Engaging the Five Senses

Consider the average turnaround time (TAT) per patient for the majority of tests you perform daily. TAT matters because it has become one of the most common performance metrics in the imaging industry. But patient-centered care also has become more of a priority. And while serving in your role as a radiology provider, how do you maintain that quick TAT while also providing quality and focusing on the patient? It’s a difficult balance. 

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Fatigue in Radiology: What is its Impact and What Can Be Done?

A typical workday for today’s radiologist is probably anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day, and in most settings, nearly all of those hours are spent reading images at a PACS workstation. This may be a good thing from a healthcare enterprise and business perspective, but what happens to a radiologist’s diagnostic performance after even just eight hours of clinical work? Is it the same as when they started first thing in the morning? Are residents impacted more or less by fatigue given their fluctuating work hours and the pressures of learning their craft? 

Stereotactic radiosurgery vs. whole-brain radiation for treating brain tumors

A new study led by researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine compared two common postsurgical therapies for metastatic brain tumors, the most common in adults, and found that stereotactic radiosurgery can provide improved outcomes for patients compared to whole-brain radiation.

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AJR satisfaction survey: Patients give thumbs-up to U.S. radiologists

When it comes to patients rating satisfaction with the performance of U.S. radiologists, results came in as favorable, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology and supported by research grants from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute.

Around the web

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