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.

Radiology group cyberattack exposes private info of over 150,000 patients
The information exposed during the attack included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and service charges.
Hospital redesigns radiology 2nd opinion service, scoring 92% collection success rate
OSU Medical Center has addressed common challenges including insufficient documentation, miscommunication, and the risk of repeat imaging.
Experts share recipe to reduce radiologist recommendations for unnecessary extra imaging
Education and other initiatives helped cut the rate of radiologist recommendations for additional imaging by 44% compared to a control site.
The top 25 heart hospitals in the United States
Newsweek and Statista have crunched the data and ranked the top U.S. hospitals for cardiac care. Did your facility make the cut?
Death from heart disease more common in rural areas—what can cardiologists do?
Rishi Wadhera, MD, detailed new data that show how socioeconomic factors are driving cardiovascular death rates, especially in younger adults.

Some sleepers arise in rankings of top (and bottom) states for healthcare

It’s no shock to find Massachusetts and Minnesota topping the states as the best in which to receive high-quality healthcare with good access and reasonable out-of-pocket prices. But look which state leads the way in getting at-risk adults to the doctor for routine visits.

Bolstering breast imaging recall letter readability significantly improves timely patient follow-up

That’s according to a new retrospective study out of Johns Hopkins, published in JACR.

U.S. News shuffles the deck with 2020 ‘Best Hospitals’ package

The honor roll, which recognizes 20 hospitals that excel in numerous care concentrations, is only part of a “Best Hospitals” package the publication has retooled for this, the year of the pandemic.

How one hospital radiology department dropped CT procedure turnaround time by 78%

Emory Healthcare used Lean Six Sigma methods to dramatically improve its processes, experts detailed in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology.

Hospital giant launches at-home COVID care program that includes radiology services

Northwell Health is sending mobile machines to patients' homes to obtain chest x-rays and, if necessary, referring consumers to outpatient facilities for CT or ultrasound testing.

Blood leg clotting thrombosis ultrasound

COVID patients at increased risk of ‘dire outcomes’ including leg clotting and amputation

That’s according to the results of a small, single-center analysis published in Radiology.

Where does your state place on hospital safety?

Maine has topped all states in two separate five-year categories of hospital safety—percentage of “A” grade hospitals (57.1%) and average annual placement in these rankings (3.63). How did your state do?

FDA set to resume regular imaging site inspections beginning July 20

“In order to move to the next phase, we must see downward trends in new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations in a given area,” advised Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD.

Quality

Radiology group cyberattack exposes private info of over 150,000 patients

Hospital redesigns radiology 2nd opinion service, scoring 92% collection success rate

Experts share recipe to reduce radiologist recommendations for unnecessary extra imaging

The top 25 heart hospitals in the United States

Death from heart disease more common in rural areas—what can cardiologists do?