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.

Mo-99 supplier reaches ‘major milestone’ in non-uranium-based production

Backed with financial support and technical prowess from the U.S. Department of Energy, NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has shown it can produce, at scale, a critical nuclear imaging radiotracer without using highly enriched uranium.

January 12, 2023

Radiologists exhorted to take charge of change (or learn to live with receding relevance)

The unfolding scenario is packing some serious threats to the livelihoods of the unprepared.   

December 21, 2022
An overview of artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology with Keith Dreyer with the ACR. Images shows a COVID-19 lung CT scan reconstruction from Siemens Healthineers. #AI #radAI #ACR

AI triages pneumothorax patients with differentiated diagnoses

A commercially available AI package has proven adept at distinguishing between two closely similar but unequally urgent conditions on chest X-rays.

December 20, 2022
huff_mary_workstation_statdx.jpg.png

Innovation in the reading room: STATdx just got much more convenient for radiologists

Sponsored by vRad

Steve Jobs once famously said that you have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. I am a strong believer in this mantra as it serves imaging providers very well when we think of our radiologists as our “internal customers.” How can we create a better work experience? Where can we remove annoyances, eliminate distractions, or improve efficiency?  

December 12, 2022

ACR rolls out quick guide to LDCT incidental findings

Clinicians who routinely manage patients screened for lung cancer with low-dose CT have a new 1-page printout to illuminate evidence-based care pathways when faced with significant but questionably urgent incidental findings.

December 9, 2022

Taking shape: New postgraduate degree program for technologists

A university in the Lone Star State is readying a master’s degree program that will prepare grad students to work as radiologic “techs” in all 50 states.

November 17, 2022
Patient in hospital bed

Whole body nuc-med imaging a solid contributor to inpatient infection management

PET/CT with the common radiotracer 18F-FDG has been found useful for workups and monitoring of infections in real-world hospitalized patients, according to a study conducted by researchers at Yale and Stanford published Nov. 14. 

November 15, 2022
caring_hands.jpg

Emergency referrers shown to care more about pursuing patient wellbeing than avoiding malpractice action

Contradicting prior research connecting heavy ordering of diagnostic exams with fear of malpractice charges—aka “defensive medicine”—a new survey shows ED referrers more focused on not harming patients than on not getting sued.

November 13, 2022

Around the web

"This was an unneeded burden, which was solely adding to the administrative hassles of medicine," said American Society of Nuclear Cardiology President Larry Phillips.

SCAI and four other major healthcare organizations signed a joint letter in support of intravascular ultrasound. 

The newly approved AI models are designed to improve the detection of pulmonary embolisms and strokes in patients who undergo CT scans.

Trimed Popup
Trimed Popup