PQI Connect
Mission Statement for PQI Section of ARRS Web SiteThe ARRS established this dedicated section of its Web site to provide Society members and other members of the extended radiology profession an inclusive repository for practical information and links to relevant information pertaining to the development of quality assurance programs and reporting mechanisms in radiology, as well as insightful opinions and commentary from leading ARRS members and industry experts.
What is PQI?Practice quality improvement (PQI) is known by a host of terms currently used to describe a process by which radiologists, their practices, or their facilities, deliver and document the quality of care they provide to their patients. Other terms you may recognize include "continuous quality improvement," "total quality management," and "quality assurance," each referring to the same fundamental concept and process.
PQI, in effect, is the American Board of Radiology's program for Part IV of its Maintenance of Certification process. Although no formal definition of PQI has been offered, with each organization or government body seemingly offering their own interpretation, the certainty is that the definitive goal is to ensure that radiologists are providing quality patient care in an efficient, fiscally responsible manner. PQI, ultimately, can (and likely will) include a variety of quantifiable factors such as patient satisfaction, call-back and error rates, utilization, education continuance, and pay-for-performance - all of which likely will influence the day-to-day methods of you and your practice.
Why Should You Care About PQI?In some form or another, PQI carries considerable weight in defining "quality patient care" and how you and your practice not only meet, but also document, how those benchmarks are achieved and their outcome. More importantly, PQI likely will play an increasingly significant role in determining the level of reimbursement for the care you provide.
In these areas, you have already seen significant changes in recent years in the manner by which health care delivery is evaluated, such as:
- American Board of Radiology Part IV
- Accreditation requirements by third-party payers
- Regulatory/licensure issues
- Pay-for-Performance
Who is Already Integrating PQI?
Many hospitals and large medical practices have incorporated some form of quality improvement and monitoring program in recent years, and chances are you and your practice have been followed such an agenda as well.
For instance, the Mammography Quality Standards Act, created by Congress in 1992 and effective in 1994, is a manner of a practice improvement program that was created to ensure that all women have access to quality mammography for the detection of breast cancer. Another recent example - the requirement by United Healthcare that participating facilities be accredited by one of two national accreditation organizations in order to receive reimbursement.
Effective July 1, 2007, radiologists had the opportunity to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, a voluntary quality reporting program where physicians who report a designated set of quality measures on particular claims would be eligible to receive a bonus payment.
In fact, the concept of establishing a quality assurance program for radiologists and their practices is not new, with articles addressing this issue appearing in the AJR as far back as 1979 ("Quality assurance: an idea whose time has come." AJR, 1979; 133:989-992). However, with the exponential growth of medical imaging in recent years, much of it performed by nonradiologists, and the resultant scrutiny by federal and third-party payers, the issue of quality assurance has moved to the forefront among professional concerns.