At last year's RSNA meeting, practice management and economics sessions focused on quality improvement. This year, the hot topics include radiation safety, decision modeling, and how to thrive the challenging economic times ahead.
At last year's RSNA meeting, practice management and economics sessions focused on quality improvement. This year, the hot topic is radiation safety.
At the meeting, watch for presentations that address this issue, such as Wednesday's "Radiation Safety and Informed Decision Making" session (SSK08, December 1, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Room S102D).
"There will be a number of presentations about ways to improve our ability to limit radiation dose and to comply with the principle of 'as low as reasonably achievable,' " RSNA health policy subcommittee chair Ruth Carlos, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor told AuntMinnie.com. "There will also be some good discussion on evaluating the risk of radiation-induced cancer."
"Radiologists are being challenged to come up with evidence that shows a particular type of imaging or imaging approach is effective," Carlos said. "And decision modeling can also be used in comparative effectiveness research, helping clinicians determine how many patients it actually takes to do a good randomized, controlled trial -- important as we face continued declining reimbursements. Unless we have the evidence to support guidelines for coverage decisions, for example, [radiology] is going to be on the losing end of reimbursement."
Other hot topics will be covered in sessions such as refresher course RC127, which will investigate how radiologists can thrive in the challenging economic times ahead (Sunday, November 28, 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m., Room S505AB); a special interest session on American College of Radiology (ACR) appropriateness criteria and how they translate to clinical practice (Monday, November 29, SI25, 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m., Room E353C); and another refresher course that will explore how radiologists can deal with threats to their profession such as commoditization, self-referral, and utilization control (RC527, Wednesday, December 1, 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Room S505AB).
Keep reading for more highlights of the intriguing health policy and practice management presentations scheduled for this year's RSNA meeting. And if you'd like to view the RSNA's listing of abstracts for this year's scientific and educational program, click here.
