The cost of healthcare in the U.S. continues to grow, yet outcomes consistently lag other nations. Population health initiatives promise to optimize care and improve patient health, and radiologists are in a unique position to lead the charge.
That’s according to top imaging experts from around the country who outlined the specialty’s role in population health management initiatives (PHMs) in the American Journal of Roentgenology.
“Radiologists’ presence at the intersection of many aspects of healthcare, including screening, diagnostic imaging, and image-guided therapies, provides significant opportunity for increased radiologist engagement in PHM,” Jessica H. Porembka, MD, a rad at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues wrote, adding that the specialty has had limited engagement in such programs up to this point.
Below are seven consensus takeaways from the authors.
1) Screening programs identify populations eligible for preventative imaging and cultivate evidence-based guidelines to help optimize outcomes, key tenets of pop. health. Rads play a central role in such programs, which span everything from breast and lung cancer to abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings.
2) Radiology information and quality assurance systems should be geared toward enhancing quality and streamlining health management strategies, the authors wrote. This includes Appropriate Use Criteria, clinical decision support tools and other related systems and software.
3) The leading causes of adult death can all be spotted on imaging exams, and opportunistic scanning should be standardized to ensure positive outcomes and decrease costs. For example, Porembka et al. cited adding quantitative CT bone mineral density testing to CTC screening as a chance to detect osteoporosis.
4) Radiologists and developers should use large population data sets to help develop artificial intelligence algorithms that address public health issues and solve pop. health management roadblocks.
5) Collaborating with other specialties, primary care providers in particular, is crucial to successful value-based initiatives. Rads can bring up emphysema findings on chest CT to PCPs, for example, as a chance to perform pulmonary function testing or suggest pulmonologist consultation.
6) A number of financial models mandate participation with multiple specialties, either directly or indirectly requiring radiologists’ support. Diagnostic and interventional rads should participate in certain aspects of both MIPS and MACRA, according to the ACR. Meanwhile, PAMA, and even accountable care organizations, welcome radiologists’ participation, the authors wrote.
7). Finally, imaging experts must engage with multispecialty groups, hospitals, payers, and others to participate in public comment periods and quality initiatives to push successful population health initiatives.
Read much more from the authors’ review here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.