Measuring Performance in Radiology

October 28, 2011 | Feature

Number crunchers at radiology practices might occasionally lose sleep over the complex nature of performance assessment, but that’s nothing, compared with the sleepless nights experienced by women who learn of possible breast abnormalities. In his work as regional radiology department chief at Kaiser Permanente (KP) Colorado in Denver,... Read More »

Dose Reduction in Radiology: An Industrywide Initiative

October 21, 2011 | NONE

There is no more compelling story in radiology today than the urgency with which organized radiology and imaging modality vendors have come together to address the issue of dose management in radiology. Yes, more work lies ahead, and significant challenges remain—but the swiftness and decisiveness with which providers... Read More »

All Aboard California’s Dose-reduction Locomotive

October 21, 2011 | NONE

In September 2010, California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger™ signed into law a measure mandating that radiologists include dose–length product or volume CT dose index in all reports. Such a development probably spurred many imaging service providers to begin thinking about radiation-dose–reduction initiatives, but Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center ... Read More »

UC Davis Medical Center Embarks on Journey to Reduce Dose by 20%

October 21, 2011 | NONE

Dose management (including dose-reduction strategies) is a dominant topic of conversation throughout the imaging world. Cross-disciplinary efforts to resolve the issue are moving to the forefront of both vendor and provider dockets, spurred on not least by quality metrics that tie reimbursement rates to patient outcomes.

At... Read More »

Malpractice Issues in Radiology: Failure to Communicate

January 16, 2011 | Legislative Report

There are two major ways that a physician ends up in court, sued for malpractice: first, by providing care in a negligent manner; second, by failing to inform the patient properly. While radiologists are not exempt from the former problem, they have largely been shielded from the latter because... Read More »

Developing Appropriateness Criteria for Imaging

January 16, 2011 | Imaging Futures

Decision support might be the technology that brings imaging out of external control and back into self-regulation, since its effectiveness appears to equal or exceed that of other utilization-management strategies (including burdensome preauthorization). Every decision-support program, however, must be able to tell the ordering physician how useful an imaging... Read More »

Improving Quality While Boosting Revenue: CMCH Case Study

November 15, 2010 | Quality

When Bill Lawrence became CEO of Central Michigan Community Hospital (CMCH) in Mt Pleasant, in 2008, he began examining options for improving the hospital’s radiology services. Declining volumes, long turnaround times, and lack of specialization were... Read More »

The Quality Challenge

October 13, 2010 | Feature

Defining quality in radiology seems simple: It’s an accurate diagnosis or interpretation, provided in a timely manner, in a clear and easy-to-follow report. The devil is always in the details, though.

How do you measure accuracy? Are you consistently measuring your patient’s or referring physician’... Read More »

Improving the Health-care Transaction

October 13, 2010 | Adview

If there is one key thing that patients want from health care, this is it: that they come away from the encounter in better shape. Payors—including the government, insurers, employers, and, increasingly, patients—are now demanding that these encounters be more affordable, and they are less tolerant of... Read More »

Beyond the Blame Game

September 07, 2010 | Adview

It is not accuracy of interpretations, or contrast-media administration, or wrong-site surgeries, or infection control in the MRI suite. No, the specialty’s number-one safety issue is radiation exposure, subject of this month’s cover story. In a sadly ironic twist of fate, the very source of the profession’... Read More »

Exposed: Radiation Safety in the Imaging Suite

September 02, 2010 | Feature

Nationwide cumulative-dose indices, warning flags in electronic medical records (EMRs), and electronic imaging-history smart cards: All these are being called for to protect patients from excessive radiation exposure. The real advances on this hot-button issue for radiology, however, are taking place at the health-facility level, one patient at a... Read More »

Standardizing Imaging Protocols: VISN 23 Case Study

September 02, 2010 | Quality

Rapidly evolving technology capabilities are reason enough to standardize imaging protocols across a health-care enterprise. Add the desire to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and eliminate unnecessary exams by using imaging appropriately, and it is easy to make the case for such a project, particularly in a health-care enterprise with... Read More »

When Your Quality Is Questioned: Answers From Frank Seidelmann, DO

August 15, 2010 | Quality

Recent media coverage of a radiologist’s accusations of inaccuracy against Radisphere National Radiology Group, Cleveland, Ohio, returns the question of quality to the forefront of discussion in the radiology community. ImagingBiz spoke with Frank Seidelmann, DO,... Read More »

Fail-safe: Automating Critical-results Notification

July 26, 2010 | Dashboard Confessions

The radiology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston, Massachusetts, developed a policy for communicating critical and discrepant results after the Joint Commission made communications among caregivers a national priority for health-care providers. When the goal was expanded in 2007, the department took the next step and used... Read More »

Subspecialty Radiology: Beyond the Debate

July 07, 2010 | Feature

The question of whether general radiology is on the path to obsolescence has sparked considerable debate in recent years, with much of the controversy centered on the contention that subspecialty radiologists are responsible for fewer errors than their generalist counterparts. Whether this contention is true or not, the trend... Read More »

Effective Quality Assurance: Obstacles and Pointers

June 16, 2010 | Quality

As the radiology marketplace matures, becoming increasingly competitive, it’s more important than ever for practices to differentiate themselves based on quality, according to Peter Franklin, MD, chair of radiology for Radisphere National Radiology Group, Cleveland, Ohio. “... Read More »

Tracking Patient Radiation Dose: IT Implications

April 16, 2010 | Strategic Planning

In February, the FDA announced a new initiative to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from CT, nuclear-medicine, and fluoroscopy exams. The agency’s three-pronged approach will include issuing safeguard requirements for device manufacturers, incorporating quality-assurance measures in mandatory CMS accreditation for imagers, and creating national dose registries to aid in... Read More »

An Urgent Case for Quality

February 24, 2010 | Leadership

Gary Becker, MD, outgoing president of the RSNA, read members the equivalent of the riot act in his presidential address on November 29 in Chicago, Illinois, kicking off the 2009 meeting and jump-starting the quality-improvement movement in radiology.

“One of the most vital priorities for our profession... Read More »

Engaging Physicians in Hospital Radiology Quality Initiatives

January 26, 2010 | Leadership

The question of how to engage physicians in hospital quality initiatives “is one that many organizations are grappling with,” according to Albert Bothe, MD, chief quality officer for Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania. He believes that any commitment to quality must start at the top, with leaders demonstrating their... Read More »

The Quest for Quality in Radiology

January 18, 2010 | Quality

With Quality Counts as its theme for 2009, the RSNA’s 95th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, obviously emphasized multiple aspects of quality assurance, control, and improvement. On December 1, several multispeaker sessions had an even stronger focus on the practical steps that radiology providers can (and should)... Read More »

CT Radiation Dose on the Table

January 18, 2010 | Safety Watch

Long a point of concern in Europe, radiation dose has emerged as a key point of consideration for pediatric radiologists in the United States, particularly with the development of multidetector CT. Recent headlines, however, have broadened the issue. Patients, referrers, hospital and radiology-department administrators, and CT equipment vendors are... Read More »

Quality Control With A Custom Fit

November 19, 2009 | Quality

Less than a year ago, the radiology department at the Fletcher Allen Medical Center (FAMC), Burlington, Vermont, the hospital affiliate of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, was struggling with antiquated peer-review and quality-control (QC) methods. For peer review, according to Steven P. Braff, MD, radiology department chair,... Read More »

Cracking the Code for Improving Quality

October 14, 2009 | Quality

As the entire health care continuum comes under increased scrutiny in terms of both cost and effectiveness, radiologists and administrators alike have fresh cause to contemplate quality in the delivery of imaging services. What are the drivers of quality in radiology, and how can it be quantified, benchmarked, and... Read More »

MIPPA’s Impact on Imaging

September 11, 2009 | Legislative Report

At the 2009 annual meeting of AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 12, two representatives of the ACR presented “Quality and Safety Response to National Initiatives.” The information was presented by Krista Bush, ACR director of diagnostic modality accreditation and director of the nonbreast... Read More »

Radiology’s Role in Limiting Health Care–acquired Infections

August 17, 2009 | Quality

In a session at this month’s meeting of AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lyn M. Mehlberg, BS, CNMT, FSNMTS, a self-described regulations junkie, predicted that regulators—including the Joint Commission, CDC, OSHA, and CMS—are poised to come down hard on radiology... Read More »