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.

FDA grants IDE clearance for next-phase trial of ‘Flash’ radiation therapy

A cancer-care technology company that was acquired by one of the world’s largest imaging OEMs a year ago has received an Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA.

Image interpretation vs. workflow interruption: Quantified, analyzed, strategized

Upon commissioning a business process improvement team to meticulously track interpretative uptime, a 13-radiologist group learned its members had been spending nearly as many hours navigating interruptions as reading images.

Global ultrasound ‘bubble community’ rallies around Ukrainian children in need of imaging

An international nonprofit medical society is teaming with a supplier of ultrasound contrast media to aid pediatric patients in Ukraine.

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Radiologists develop AI to flag artifacts on CT pulmonary angiography

The capability could allow immediate alerting of CT technologists, who would adjust scan protocols or re-scan patients to optimize image quality prior to physician interpretation.

Radiology contributes less than thought to the national healthcare spend

An analysis of CMS data has shown radiology had little to do with increases in Medicare costs over a 10-year period ending in 2019.

Work no less burdensome for 70% of 276 radiologists using AI

Radiologists across Europe have been finding AI algorithms useful for improving efficiency at some tasks—yet, overall, few have received AI-attributable workload relief.

‘Vast and diverse’ repository of image data goes open-access for healthcare AI researchers

A small medtech outfit in North Carolina is opening its trove of medical imaging datasets to academic researchers working to develop AI applications for healthcare.

Seeds planted for a needs-based, radiology-specific AI curriculum

There’s no shortage of educational resources for teaching radiologists at all learning levels the principles and particulars of medical AI, but the need for radiology-specific materials is pronounced, according to a study published June 23. 

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.