Practice Quality Improvement - The Role of Subspecialty Societies
Why should subspecialty societies be involved in PQI? Their members: - know the important questions - know the science and technology - know the relevant metrics May provide national benchmarking data
Projects Developed by Subspecialty Societies Assist members with lifelong professional development Relevant to that subspecialty area Reasonable to accomplish
Subspecialty Society PQI May be difficult for small societies to develop complete PQI programs Limited resources: - money - people - technical expertise and hardware limitations
Subspecialty Society PQI Develop complete ABR-approved PQI projects Work with larger general radiology organizations Work with other subspecialty societies SPR + ASNR Pediatric Neuroradiology PQI project ASNR + SBI Ø
Subspecialty Society PQI Important roles: - provide expertise to larger radiology organizations (ACR, ARRS, RSNA) - develop tools for larger societies or individuals to use in their PQI projects - help to develop relevant databases for that subspecialty benchmarking
Radiologists are resistant to change Skeptical about new mandates such as MOC Most don’t understand MOC, especially PQI Don’t see the need PQI seems threatening – fear of consequences and discovery People respond better when they get information from their most closely aligned organization
SBI Mammography already heavily regulated MQSA mandates medical audit
SBI ACR BI-RADS has information for more complete audit NMDB could become a PQI benchmarking tool ACR product developed with SBI members
SBI SBI managed by ACR and has long history of close alignment and collaboration SBI has limited resources for major projects
Examples of Relatively Easy PQI Projects for SBI participation
Accuracy of Interpretation National program, such as ACR RadPeer Double reading - intradepartmental - external review Comparison of interpretations with pathology results
Practice Guidelines and Standards 2 Required One must be Communication, (reporting of urgent results) One component of another guideline related to your practice area
Referring Physician Surveys Particularly relevant to breast imaging Reflect quality of practice ABR template survey Institutional survey IU School of Medicine Physician Peer-Review Survey Radiologist: Valerie Jackson, MD Please rank the radiologist’s performance in each area: 1 = poor, 5 = Excellent Accessibility Accuracy of reports Professionalism Timeliness of reports Quality of consultation Interaction with patients