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.

'Tremendous pressure' to keep up with radiologist workloads results in another missed diagnosis

The radiologist involved in the incident indicated that the department’s burdensome workload resulted in reduced reading times, saying that this made their departmental standard of double reading scans “virtually unattainable."

November 7, 2022

Independent radiology champion to Congress: ‘We are in serious danger of losing local healthcare focus’

Hospitals are rich and poised to get richer while independent physicians and groups continue to take it on the chin, facing ever more onerous pressures to consolidate under the headship of large hospitals, health systems or for-profit practice management companies.

November 6, 2022

Costs of PE interventions are frequently physician-dependent

“Without a clear reference standard technique that optimizes patient outcomes, device selection is based on availability and physician-driven selection, which can substantially impact procedural costs,” authors of a new cost analysis in Clinical Radiology stated.

November 4, 2022
Medicare money payment physician. The CardioVascular Coalition and Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions have both issued new statements highlighting their issues with the 2024 MPFS proposed rule. 

AMA scrutinizes lack of competition, consumer harms in Medicare Advantage plans

Medicare Advantage plans face little in the way of competition, and Medicare consumers are worse off for it, according to a new study from the American Medical Association.

 

November 1, 2022

Cleveland Clinic to help like-minded hospitals boost quality, improve outcomes

Cleveland Clinic experts will work with hospitals and health systems “to ensure the highest standards of patient care delivery, enhancing operational efficiencies and supporting the professional development and education of clinical and non-clinical staff."

October 31, 2022
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Cancer death rates drop again

Cancer death rates have dropped again among men, women, children, adolescents and young adults.

October 28, 2022
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Two Florida women sentenced to prison for falsifying clinical records

Two women in Florida have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a conspiracy to falsify clinical trial data.

October 28, 2022
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X-rays may suffice for assessing some low-back fractures

It’s unlikely radiography will unseat MRI for routinely distinguishing between acute and chronic compression fractures of the lumbar vertebrae, but certain X-ray findings might, in cases, obviate the need for the pricier imaging option.

October 28, 2022