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.

chest pain lung pulmonary embolism

New pulmonary embolism approach could substantially reduce imaging overuse

The pretest probability score produced false-negative rates below 1% and dropped imaging use by about 20%, according to a new JAMA Cardiology study. 

Thumbnail

Offering imaging exam for free ups utilization by 546%, with key gains in underserved populations

University Hospitals Health System tested the pricing change in a bid to boost outcomes in its service area. 

Thumbnail

US Imaging experts cast further doubts about CT’s place in radiologists’ COVID diagnosis toolkit

A group of a 11 U.S. imaging experts are the latest to join this group, publishing their reservations in the American Journal of Roentgenology. 

Thumbnail

Postpone all but the most dire breast imaging, ACR, cancer centers and surgeons advise

The groups convened an expert panel of stakeholders to help determine what types of breast care are most urgent and which procedures can wait until the pandemic clears. 

Thumbnail

ASTRO receives VA contract to develop cancer therapy quality measures

“This pioneering effort leverages evidence-based guidelines and the consensus of medical experts in a new and powerful way to optimize care for military veterans,” said Theodore L. DeWeese, MD, chair of ASTRO's board.

Thumbnail

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.

Thumbnail

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.

Thumbnail

Smart cloud-based solution, strong people skills prepare John Muir Health well for exchanging images with neighboring providers

Sponsored by Sectra

The imaging division at John Muir Health in California’s Contra Costa County has been supplying topnotch image-handling capabilities to end users located across the system’s sprawling family tree—three hospitals, seven outpatient imaging centers, a 1,000-plus physician network and a dozen or so sites providing outpatient, urgent-care and surgery services—since 2001. That’s when Sectra PACS entered the picture for the Walnut Creek-based organization.

Around the web

These risks appear to be present regardless of a person's age or health at the time of infection.

Agfa and Sectra both performed well with end-user satisfaction scores in the 2025 Best in KLAS list of radiology IT systems.

Smaller health systems are increasingly moving into this realm. Tim Kearns, director of marketing and healthcare IT, Konica Minolta Imaging USA, explains the implications.