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.

Cigna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers, announced new priorities for its capital deployment, including steering an additional $450 million into Cigna Ventures.

Cigna is removing 25% of medical services from prior authorization, but none of them are in imaging

The health insurer has faced criticism over its use of PA, including a class action lawsuit alleging it denied claims for imaging and other healthcare services in bulk

August 25, 2023
lung cancer screening

Unnecessary follow-up tests may be dissuading individuals from returning for future cancer screenings

Nearly 18% of patients receive follow-up imaging or invasive procedures despite negative findings on lung cancer screening CT. 

August 16, 2023
scales of justice

‘Unstoppable’ radiologist keeps practicing despite millions in fines, mounting investigations

James McGuckin, MD, most recently made the news in May when the DOJ filed suit against him and his affiliated practices. 

August 11, 2023
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

Breast cancer overdiagnosis may be common among older women, study contends

The findings point to a "real need for better tools to identify which women may benefit from screening and which breast cancers are unlikely to be progressive." 

August 8, 2023
quality imaging appropriateness clinical decision support CAS AUC

ACR shares concerns about specialty’s ‘struggle’ to participate in alternative payment models

Barriers to radiologists’ success in MIPS include their ineligibility to earn maximum incentive adjustments, despite perfect performance. 

August 4, 2023

Medicare spent upward of $3.8B on low-value imaging and cancer screenings in 1 year: MedPAC

“Imaging for nonspecific low back pain” was listed as the most frequently occurring low-value service, impacting upward of 9.3% of beneficiaries. 

July 31, 2023

EHR nudge helps health system drop use of unnecessary lumbar X-rays by 53%

Researchers with NYC Health + Hospitals detailed their large-scale quality improvement project in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

July 28, 2023
private equity corporatization business consolidation

Private equity-backed healthcare services bring more harm than good to patients, report reveals

Given the rapid growth of PE ownership in healthcare, the report's concerning data give pause to how such entities should be regulated, experts involved in the work suggested.

July 25, 2023

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.

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