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.

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Non-hospital-based facilities offering cardiac imaging services a rarity in Massachusetts

In 2017, Anthem implemented a new policy that requires outpatient MR and CT scans not considered medically necessary to be completed at a freestanding imaging facility to receive coverage. This went into effect in several states, sparking its fair share of controversy along the way, and a team of Boston-based researchers wanted to know how such a policy could impact patient care in Massachusetts.

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Chest CT for suspected pulmonary embolism in the ED: Utilization is up, diagnostic yield is down

CT utilization in the emergency department (ED) has increased significantly in the last few decades, a fact often cited as one of the major reasons healthcare costs and radiation exposure are on the rise. So what can be done to reverse that trend?

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Pathways for Quality Care: Echocardiographers Ponder a Playbook for Imaging in Myocardial Infarction

Physicians in fields like cardiology have traditionally looked to clinical practice guidelines to help articulate the best evidence-based care for patients. The rapidly growing movement to value-based care is prompting clinicians—including echocardiographers—to carefully weigh a more focused and integrative approach to delivering consistent, quality medicine: care pathways.

pulmonary embolism on CT pulmonary angiography

Feel free to reduce CT dose when diagnosing pulmonary embolism

Clinicians can reduce the “tube voltage” (kVp) in CT pulmonary angiography without reducing image quality, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Researchers conducted a retrospective study to measure CT pulmonary angiography image quality as tube voltage was lowered, taking into account patient size as well as the benefits of simple image post-processing.

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Patients vs. Populations: Afib Experts Get Energized Over Quality Metrics & Training

Five electrophysiologists joined Cardiovascular Business editorial advisor Matthew R. Reynolds, MD, SM, for a discussion about how they will deliver quality care to a growing number of atrial fibrillation patients even as the U.S. healthcare system turns its focus from volume to value.

Around the web

Ron Blankstein, MD, professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the use of artificial intelligence to detect heart disease in non-cardiac CT exams.

Eleven medical societies have signed on to a consensus statement aimed at standardizing imaging for suspected cardiovascular infections.

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