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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Examples of the messages the Nanox AI algorithms display for incidental findings of spinal compression fractures and detection of coronary calcium. Both can help physicians better understand risk factors or need for therapy in patients through these types of opportunistic screenings on scans being performed for other reasons.

Routine chest CT often reveals patients at risk for cardiovascular disease, presenting radiology with ‘untapped’ potential

Rads only reported this incidental finding in about 31% to 44% of cases, experts detailed in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. 

mammography mammogram breast cancer

Access isn’t enough; other unmet needs keeping patients from using screening mammography

Patients with such impediments also are more likely to present to practices with late-stage disease, experts detailed in JAMA Network Open.  

Video of Mahadevappa Mahesh, PhD, incoming-AAPM president, professor of radiology and a medical physicist, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explains key trends in imaging physics presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2023 meeting.

6 key trends in medical imaging physics

Mahadevappa Mahesh, PhD, incoming American Association of Physicists in Medicine president, discusses key developments in the specialty. 

The rate of radiology reading errors has not changed in 75 years, despite technology advances, explains Michael Bruno, MD, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, who outlines the reasons why.

Error rates in radiology have not changed in 75 years

Radiology report reading errors are as prevalent as ever. Michael Bruno, MD, of Penn State Hershey Medical Center says it's time for that to change.

breast radiologist breast cancer mammography

New breast imaging approach provides high sensitivity while reducing false positives: ‘Groundbreaking advancement’

Low-dose positron emission mammography is a molecular imaging technique that also can reduce radiation exposure while avoiding breast compression. 

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CMS beta testing new mammography-related quality measures

The federal agency is aiming to assess radiologist performance in breast cancer screening and improve patient outcomes.

physician money payments dollars

Financial incentives significantly increase radiologist compliance with quality-improvement initiative

UT Southwestern has introduced a grading template in knee radiograph reports to help decrease the use of unnecessary MR imaging. 

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More with less: Department cuts technologists’ wasted time searching for CT supplies by 62%

The University of Utah Health department of radiology recently tackled a quality improvement project to quash wasted minutes spent seeking syringes and other items in storage. 

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Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

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

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Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

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.

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‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

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.