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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Safety checklists can help radiologists provide better care during severe contrast reactions

Using a contrast reaction management checklist reduces the number of mistakes radiologists make during simulated severe contrast reactions, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Radiologists can reduce ABUS interpretation time by using concurrent-read CAD system

Use of a concurrent-read computer-aided detection (CAD) system when interpreting automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) examinations helps improve efficiency without negatively affecting accuracy, according to a new study published by the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Defining—and dealing with—radiology’s personality problem

Cultivating physician character in an increasingly tech-centered environment can be difficult for radiologists who are often isolated in their work, but in a medical landscape where quality patient care is key, imagers may need to venture outside of their comfort zone, a trio of Emory University radiologists wrote in Academic Radiology this May.

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Researchers demonstrate the power of personalizing lung cancer screening decisions for each patient

A group of researchers from the University of Michigan and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has found that clinicians can improve patient communication and potentially increase lung cancer screening program participation by personalizing the decision-making process.

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Lacking a web presence hurts interventional radiology residency programs

Nearly one-third of integrated interventional radiology residency programs lack a web presence, researchers reported in the American Journal of Roentgenology this month—and they could be missing out on recruiting the next generation of radiologists.

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California’s ACA exchange will punish hospitals ordering unnecessary procedures

Hospitals will be expected to perform fewer unnecessary C-sections, cut down on imaging procedures for lower back pain and prescribe fewer opioids. If they don’t do so by the end of 2019, Covered California will try to get participating health insurers to exclude those hospitals from their networks.

Why radiologists should think twice about RADPEER and consider nonrandom peer review

Adopting a nonrandom peer review process—and abandoning the ACR’s widely accepted RADPEER approach—could identify far more diagnostic errors in imaging studies and afford radiologists an opportunity to learn from theirs and their peers’ mistakes, researchers suggest in the current edition of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

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Smartphone apps offer interactive, on-the-go learning for millennial radiology students

Integrating mobile learning into the radiology classroom via smartphone apps could offer individualized study options while supporting a more blended learning model, a pair of researchers reported in Radiography this month.