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.

Quality of care for heart patients does not improve in first year of ACO participation
Researchers tracked patient outcomes through the use of 15 performance measures related to hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.
American Heart Association program leads to substantial improvements in stroke care
Cardiologist Gregg Fonarow, MD, reviewed decades of data and discussed the long-term impact of the AHA's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program.
AHA still working to find more patients with severe aortic stenosis who may require care
The initiative is designed to help identify more patients who may require aortic valve replacement. Brian Lindman, MD, provided an update on the project's efforts.
Imaging experts question validity of new CMS quality measure aimed at reducing CT radiation exposure
The American Association of Physicists in Medicine recently convened a panel of industry experts, devising a list of issues with the new quality metric.
Most stock photos fail to accurately portray the work of radiologists
Only about 9% of images examined presented a “realistic view of a radiologist’s job," according to new research out of Belgium.

ACR worries value-based initiatives are ignoring radiologists’ care coordination skills

A federal contractor is working to gather input on the possible development of new measures under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

State seeks to punish interventional radiologist who operated on wrong patient

Health officials want to impose penalties against the doc after he allegedly placed an IVC filter in a patient who didn't need one.

CT-equipped, teleradiology-backed mobile stroke units bolster outcomes over traditional ambulances

That's according to a new prospective, nonrandomized, controlled intervention study, published in JAMA.

Pay-for-performance initiative markedly improves radiologists’ quality and safety successes

Brigham and Women’s saw a nearly 21% drop in the time between completing an imaging scan and a radiologist signing off on the final report, among other gains.

Patient safety watchdog Leapfrog Group launches national initiative targeting diagnostic errors

The effort is fueled by a $1.2 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, with participation from big names including Johns Hopkins University.

Standardizing evaluation after liver cancer treatment could save US healthcare more than $575M per year

Currently, no unified guidelines exist for assessing tumor response in HCC patients, which can lead to excess costs from redundant imaging and ineffective therapies.

Overaggressive lung nodule evaluation saddling patients with excess costs, radiation exposure

Patients who received a more intense course of evaluation tallied $20,132 more in expenditures, but saw no difference in late-stage cancer diagnoses, experts wrote in JAMA.

Triage tool helps cut unnecessary CT imaging for blunt trauma without worsening patient outcomes

That’s according to a large, retrospective analysis of this intervention, detailed in RSNA’s Radiology.

Quality

Quality of care for heart patients does not improve in first year of ACO participation

American Heart Association program leads to substantial improvements in stroke care

AHA still working to find more patients with severe aortic stenosis who may require care

Imaging experts question validity of new CMS quality measure aimed at reducing CT radiation exposure

Most stock photos fail to accurately portray the work of radiologists