on March 27, 2013 |
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Topics: Imaging, Service Lines, CT, Safety, Quality, Performance Improvement, Patient Satisfaction, Service, Governance, Management Tools, Communication Skills, Skill Development, Workforce
Ben Lauing, Imaging Performance Partnership
Recent conversations, as well as our agenda setting topic poll, indicate that radiation dose risk is still a prominent area of focus for many of you. As I prepare for this Friday’s webconference, Advancing Radiation Dose Risk Management, I thought I’d take a moment to give you a sneak peek.
In addition to providing seven new strategic tactics, from the educational to the technological, we will review the current legislative landscape and examine the increasing involvement of payers in dose management efforts.
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From pamphlets to physicists: Customizing patient radiation dose education
on August 25, 2010 |
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Topics: Imaging, Service Lines, Process Improvement, Management Tools, Performance Improvement, Process Improvement, Efficiency
In a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) found that radiologists turned around imaging reports significantly faster following hospital implementation of a pay-for-performance program that rewarded speedy reporting. Specifically, the mean time from scan complete to signed report went from 42.7 hours to 31.6 hours in the 3 month period after implementation. The specific target of the program was reduction in the time it took staff radiologists to provide final signatures on initial reports prepared by residents. In the initial stage of the program, radiologists whose review time averaged less than 24 hours during the evaluation period were offered $2,500 every six months. MGH achieved this goal- radiologist review went from 22.7 hours to 12.6 hours. Interestingly, turnaround time remained low even after MGH abandoned the program- mean total turnaround times were 16.3 hours in the 3 month period after program termination. The researchers also mention that monetary incentives were likely not the only factor that lead to improved radiologist report turnaround. Simply providing transparency of performance, as in pay-for-reporting programs, also encourages improvement.
This latest report follows a general trend of hospital's raising service standards for radiologists, an area we discussed in our national meeting speech, "Re-envisioning the Imaging Enterprise" and a recent webconference, "Trends in Hospital-Radiologist Contracting."
on June 22, 2010 |
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Topics: Imaging, Service Lines, Mammography, Benchmarking, Management Tools, Performance Improvement
According to our results, outpatient volumes overall grew slightly from 2008 to 2009. However, in Q1 2010, outpatient volumes decreased relative to Q1 2009.
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Volume Trends Survey: Mammography
