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.

Thumbnail

‘Like magic’: AI bests radiologists in correctly diagnosing collapsed lung

New assistive technology developed by one Canadian university could serve as a “computational second opinion” for busy radiologists assessing difficult-to-diagnose collapsed lungs, experts said this week. 

Thumbnail

Doctor uses virtual reality to speed up radiology training, availability of new treatment

Ziv Haskal, MD, an interventional radiologist with the University of Virginia Health System, has created an 11-minute virtual reality experience for docs, detailing a less-invasive treatment for thyroid patients. 

Thumbnail

‘Not as safe as we thought’: Radiological researchers cast doubt on common joint treatment

“We’ve been telling patients that even if these injections don’t relieve your pain, they’re not going to hurt you, but now we suspect that this is not necessarily the case,” said Ali Guermazi, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology at Boston University’s School of Medicine. 

Thumbnail

Foreign-born women lagging behind US peers in breast cancer screening rates

There’s been little research conducted on this phenomenon. But investigators with the National Center for Health Statistics recently dived into the data and found clear disparities between immigrants and U.S.-born women, according to their study, published Wednesday, Oct. 9, in National Health Statistics Reports.

Thumbnail

Radiologist faulted for missed diagnosis, must apologize and undergo training

The New Zealand government is faulting a local radiologist who failed to recognize one 67-year-old patient’s bowel cancer in CT scans, which eventually spread to his lungs and liver.

How imaging providers in 1 state are responding to a major policy shift

A new law in Pennsylvania requires more out of imaging professionals—how are radiologists handling this dramatic change? 

Thumbnail

How superheroes are helping one imaging center drop its sedation rates

It can be difficult to convince a child to sit still through an MRI scan, especially without an assist from anesthesiology. One academic medical center is changing that norm with the help of Captain America and Iron Man. 

Thumbnail

US yields similar cancer detection rates after digital mammography, DBT

Screening ultrasound (US) examinations after digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and after digital mammography (DM) result in comparable cancer detection rates, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

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.