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.

Sectra reinforces top standing among PACS suppliers recognized by KLAS; Fujifilm stays strong with VNA

Healthcare research outfit KLAS is out with its 2023 Best in KLAS awards recognizing excellence in healthcare software and services, and the Sweden-based imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra tops the field of U.S. PACS vendors—again.  

Tech billionaire fashioning ‘proactive, preventative’ primary care out of whole-body imaging

The startup’s celebrated co-founder is Daniel Ek, the CEO and driving force behind digital music giant Spotify.

Headlines and ire follow serially sued, disciplined radiologist despite 700-mile move

The radiologist who received, in one patient’s view, a mere “slap on the wrist” for missing a couple dozen breast cancers over several years is back in the news.

Coming soon to a health system near you: ‘network radiology’

Radiology that facilitates the sharing of resources and touchpoints within an enterprise but across geographic locales is the future of the specialty, according to two Harvard radiology researchers.

Deep learning slashes real-world MRI scan times

Accelerated MRI with AI image reconstruction nearly halved orthopedic scan times while maintaining or even improving image quality in a newly published prospective study. 

Mo-99 supplier reaches ‘major milestone’ in non-uranium-based production

Backed with financial support and technical prowess from the U.S. Department of Energy, NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has shown it can produce, at scale, a critical nuclear imaging radiotracer without using highly enriched uranium.

Radiologists exhorted to take charge of change (or learn to live with receding relevance)

The unfolding scenario is packing some serious threats to the livelihoods of the unprepared.   

An overview of artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology with Keith Dreyer with the ACR. Images shows a COVID-19 lung CT scan reconstruction from Siemens Healthineers. #AI #radAI #ACR

AI triages pneumothorax patients with differentiated diagnoses

A commercially available AI package has proven adept at distinguishing between two closely similar but unequally urgent conditions on chest X-rays.

Around the web

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.