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.

Staff at the new Fetal Cardiac Clinic at the Heart Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. From left, Director of the Heart Institute David Romberger, RN, MSN, CCRN; attending physician Shuo Wang, MD; Executive Director of the Heart Institute Jennifer Klunder, MHA; Director of the Fetal Cardiac Clinic Jodie Votava-Smith, MD; Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Co-director of the Heart Institute Paul F. Kantor, MBBCh, MSc, FRCPC; and congenital cardiac surgeon Luke Wiggins, MD.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles unveils new fetal cardiac clinic

Clinic for expectant mothers designed to better diagnose and treat congenital heart defects and heart diseases before birth. 

February 20, 2024
Video of Patricia Keegan, NP, Emory, explains value of the ACC TVT NCDR registry for TAVR and why it is important from both a quality monitoring standpoint and for attracting patients to your program.

Data registries have been a huge success for U.S. structural heart programs

ACC/STS National Cardiovascular Data Registry metrics reporting for TAVR is important for marketing and care quality, explains Patricia Keegan, NP, with the Emory Heart and Vascular Center.

February 16, 2024
oximeter

FDA issues first-ever clearance for OTC oximeter

Masimo's MightySat Medical is the first FDA-cleared pulse oximeter available to consumers without a prescription, which could disrupt the market for the notoriously inaccurate at-home devices.

February 15, 2024
Doctors have increasingly been seeing breast exams with swollen lymph nodes imitating cancer in patients who have received a vaccine, prompting Penn Medicine providers to offer up guidance. 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.  

February 14, 2024
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. 

February 14, 2024
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.

February 13, 2024
oximeter health screening equity

Humana pilot study reveals ongoing healthcare discrimination among Medicare Advantage members

While only a feasibility exercise, the study strongly suggests additional patient screenings would help deepen understanding of literacy and discrimination issues.

February 12, 2024
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. 

February 12, 2024