Utilization Management in Radiology: Basic Concepts and Applications

Strategies for Establishing a Comprehensive Quality and Performance Improvement Program in a Radiology Department

“…For example, to be compliant with the Joint Commission's NPSGs, data describing compliance with these goals should be collected and analyzed. (Fig 3) (5,9). The main indicator categories used in many radiology departments include productivity, finance, patient safety, access to services, and customer satisfaction (Fig 2) (10,11).…”

What causes increasing and unnecessary use of radiological investigations? a survey of radiologists' perceptions

“…Over-utilization implies wasteful investigations, which according to European Referral guidelines for imaging [ 22 ] has the following main causes: repeating investigations, investigations when the results are unlikely to affect patient management, investigating too often, doing the wrong investigation, insufficient clinical information and unclear referral questions, and over-investigation (for reassurance of clinicians and patients). Over-utilization is the main concern among the problems of inappropriate utilization [ 23 ].…”

“…The expansion of radiological services has a significant impact on health care costs [ 23 , 24 ], the quality of health care services and health care risks [ 10 ]. The risk of radiation exposure is drawing increasing attention [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Commoditization in Radiology: Threat or Opportunity?

“…Some criteria have already been built into sophisticated clinical decision-support systems that are accessible through the Internet, allowing direct scheduling of the appropriate examination ( 13,14 ). But the most striking example of how scheduling can be infl uenced is the increasing number of utilization management companies controlling the access of patients to imaging services ( 15 ). Is there a doubt that scheduling does not resulting in the need for reliable and trustful governance.…”