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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Use of CTPA for suspected pulmonary embolism in pregnancy surges 156% at 2 hospitals

Despite the marked increase, there was no corresponding uptick in either positive PE readings or pregnancies, experts detailed. 

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Medical specialists order low value, unnecessary imaging at higher rates than their peers

The findings are derived from an analysis of fee-for-service Medicare data recorded across nearly 600 U.S. health systems. 

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82% of CTA head and neck scans in 1 emergency department had no actionable findings

Nonphysician practitioners and ED residents also ordered a significantly greater proportion of such exams, experts detailed in JACR

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ACR sees burden and little benefit from CMS’s plan to tackle ‘excessive radiation dose’

The American College of Radiology is "urgently" asking that the agency rename the measure, worried that it could be spreading misinformation.

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Radiology groups urge CMS to retool the flawed Merit-based Incentive Payment System

Leaders with ACR, the RBMA and Radiology Partners all have recently written about concerning aspects of the quality-focused Medicare payment program. 

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Should radiology groups share individual physicians’ productivity metrics?

Two members of the specialty attempted to answer this query, sharing dueling opinion pieces in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

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Implementing structured radiology reporting via O-RADS boosts patient, referrer satisfaction

One key finding, experts noted, is that the Ovarian-Adnexal Reporting and Data System had little impact on patients' ability to interpret reports. 

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Joint Commission’s Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation process called ‘costly, ineffective and potentially harmful’

Hospitals spent recurring labor costs per provider of about $50.20, extrapolated for a total national cost of roughly $78.54M, experts wrote in JACR

Around the web

After reviewing years of data from its clinic, one institution discovered that issues with implant data integrity frequently put patients at risk. 

Prior to the final proposal’s release, the American College of Radiology reached out to CMS to offer its recommendations on payment rates for five out of the six the new codes.

“Before these CPT codes there was no real acknowledgment of the additional burden borne by the providers who accepted these patients."

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