Dear AuntMinnie Member,
The American College of Radiology's appropriateness criteria are being held out as a possible model to aid healthcare plans in curbing inappropriate utilization of imaging services. A new study from Israel supports these claims, concluding that the adoption of ACR criteria can cut CT and MRI utilization rates.
An HMO in Israel embraced the criteria in 2001 as a way to cut utilization and improve its quality of care, according to the article by staff writer Jonathan S. Batchelor in our Imaging Center Digital Community. The HMO set up a preauthorization center where board-certified radiologists screened requests for CT and MRI studies and approved those that they deemed medically indicated.
The results are illuminating. The plan saw a sharp drop in CT utilization over the study period, and while the drop in MRI utilization was less steep, it was still significant. Cutting unnecessary utilization resulted in savings in the millions of dollars for the plan, according to the researchers.
Learn more about their experience and get the rest of the data by visiting our Imaging Center Digital Community, at centers.auntminnie.com.
