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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Imaging-based COVID study finds blood clots twice as likely with infection vs. vaccination

A retrospective analysis of cross-sectional venograms shows only 4.5% of a teaching hospital’s COVID-vaccinated patients had a clotting condition in early 2021. Meanwhile the rate for the unvaccinated was 10.1%.

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3D mammography may shake ‘routine’ out of architectural distortion surgery

When counseling patients with architectural distortion on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) but no signs of malignancy on biopsy, mammographers should raise imaging alone as a sound option for surveillance.

Association exec: Proposed PFS stands to do ‘incalculable damage to the medical profession’

Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted a tentative Physician Fee Schedule for 2023. Initial reactions from radiology were muted. That changed this Wednesday.

7 points of light for new radiologists weighing subspecialist vs. generalist paths

To subspecialize or not to subspecialize? That’s a crucial question for radiology trainees who are finishing their residency but have yet to settle on a lifelong career path.

Functional MRI clarifies effects of vaping vs. smoking inside the lungs

Cigarette smoke inhibits pulmonary perfusion while nicotine-delivering vapors from e-cigarettes do the opposite, actually increasing blood flow in the lungs. 

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Ultrasound novices quickly master ‘volume sweep’ breast imaging

In a recent trial, medical students who were trained for two hours or less in an ultrasound “volume sweep” imaging (VSI) protocol obtained diagnostic-quality imaging of palpable breast lesions.

CT contrast shortage seen as amplification, continuation of deep-set dynamics

The shortage of iodinated contrast media that has rattled U.S. radiology since early May didn’t come from nowhere.

The GE healthcare vScan Air was one of several point of care ultrasound (POCUS) systems on display at the ACC 2022 meeting.

Scholarly POCUS judges impressed by handheld models from GE, Philips, EchoNous

Two dozen academic physicians from around the U.S. with expertise in point-of-care ultrasound—and no vested interest in POCUS industry players—recently tested and compared four commercially available POCUS handhelds.

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.