Quality improvement resources

We support our members by providing radiology-specific training and educational resources in practice assessment and quality improvement (QI). Curated by our Quality Improvement Committee (QIC), the following resources contain links to public and private organizations and institutions that provide educational information focused on QI standards, clinical guidelines and online learning.

Explore the topics covered on this page to get started:

• RadioGraphics
• Other news sources
• Practice resources and guidelines
• Performance measures and sources of evidence-based medicine
• Free data for bench marking
• External quality resources
• Online learning resources

Practice resources and guidelines

List of agencies and professional societies that offer information on quality improvement standards.

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Clinical Practice Guidelines Archive
• AHRQ Guidelines and Measurements
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• British Columbia (BC) Cancer Agency: Cancer Management Guidelines
• Canadian Medical Association CPG Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines (English and French)
• Dansk Radiologisk Selskab (Danish Society of Radiology): European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for Computed Tomography (English)
• AHRQ Guide to Clinical Preventive Services: Recommendations to the U.S.  Preventive Services Task Force
• IBUS Guidelines for the Ultrasonic Examination of the Breast
• Radiological Society of South Africa: Clinical Guidelines and Protocols
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• ABR Non-interpretive Skills Resource Guide (PDF)

Performance measures and sources of evidence-based medicine

Links to various clinical guidelines and measures for use in providing evidence-based practice and in designing systems to support quality care.

American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria® : Guidelines to assist referring physicians and other health care providers in making the most appropriate imaging decisions; criteria may also be used to monitor ordering of appropriate  imaging.

American College of Radiology (ACR) Practice Parameters and Technical Standards: Educational tools to help guide decision-making by radiologists and patients planning and performing examinations, treatments and procedures. 

Optimizing Patient Exposure to Ionizing Radiation Measure Set Approved: PCPI members approved the Optimizing Patient Exposure to Ionizing Radiation (OPEIR) work group to develop this set of measures to identify and define quality measures toward improving outcomes for patients by reducing ionizing radiation necessary to perform an imaging study while preserving the highest diagnostic image quality. The measures were developed by the PCPI and the American Board of Medical Specialties in collaboration with the American College of Radiology and the American Board of Radiology.

AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange: Allows health care professionals to share and adopt new innovations that improve care delivery.

AHRQ Quality Indicators: Standardized, evidence-based measures of health care quality that can be used with readily available hospital inpatient administrative data to measure and track clinical performance and outcomes.

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): Accredits, certifies and publicly recognizes organizations and physicians who participate in NCQA measurement activities; develops process measures that are used by health plans for the purposes of reporting the quality of care delivered to their enrollees.

National Quality Forum (NQF): Identifies national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorses national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance and promotes the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.

Center for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM): Tools to implement a project that evaluates practice against evidence-based medicine.

Free data for bench marking

Several national and federal organizations provide free access to limited administrative data that can be useful in bench marking process and outcomes within your own environment.

National Center for Health Statistics: Descriptive statistics on the general health of the American population.

HCUPnet: Free, online system providing health care statistics and information for hospital inpatient, emergency department and ambulatory settings, as well as population-based health care data on counties.

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®): Data from here can be used to assess patient satisfaction, compare and report on performance, and quality improvement assessment.

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services: National Medicare and Medicaid population statistics, trends and reports.

Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care: Contains public data that can be used to produce reports on medical resources consumption at national, regional or local levels.

External quality resources

National and international resources that provide examples or templates of tools that can be used to maximize quality improvement.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI): Provides users with the ability to set up and document individual or team improvement projects, including data collection and track or trend changes over time.

Physician Practice Patient Safety Assessment: This assessment tool can be used by any type of radiology practice to assist in identifying opportunities to improve care in the area of patient safety.

Quality Knowledge on Syque: Provides detailed explanations and examples of quality tools, including control charts.

"Improving Diagnosis in Health Care": National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine study report that can be purchased or downloaded for free with an account or as a guest.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): U.S. Department of Health & Human Services agency providing tools to help design and support quality improvement programs and projects including:

• Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®): Program that allows health care providers to assess a patient’s experiences while receiving health care in a practice or facility; tool can be used for patients seen in ambulatory, freestanding and acute care settings.
• Health Care Innovations Exchange: Program for health care professionals to share and adopt innovations that improve care delivery to patients.
• Improving Diagnostic Safety: Resources related to the improvement of diagnostic safety are included.
• Patient Safety Measure Tools and Resources: Information, reports and tools for healthcare providers to support patient safety programs.
• Research Summit on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care: Webcast of event held on Sept. 28, 2016, along with the agenda and other meeting materials.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): International agency promoting basic safety standards in radiation protection and safety.

The International Society of Radiology (ISR): Facilitator for continental, regional and national quality and safety campaigns in radiation protection. Its ISR Quality and Safety Alliance (ISRQSA) drives the ISR’s quality and safety agenda.

Online learning resources

Radiology Non-interpretive Skills Review: ABR Core Quality & Safety Study Guide: Series of 10 videos by David B. Larson, MD, MBA, Associate Chair of Performance Improvement, Department of Radiology, Stanford University.

American College of Radiology Learning Activities: A collection of self-assessments,  virtual courses and case studies from ACR.

Open School at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement: A global learning community working to build core skills in improvement, safety, system design and leadership.

• Online courses
• Video library
• IHI Open School Change Agent Network (I-CAN)

Horizons School for Change Agents: A part of the National Health Service of England, this global community supports leaders, teams, organizations and systems to think differently about large-scale change, improve collaboration, and accelerate change. Registration occurs annually.