Healthcare costs exceed $9,000 per year per person and the healthcare crisis is unsustainable,” according to Vivien S. Lee, MD, PhD, MBA. In the Annual Oration in Diagnostic Radiology, delivered during the plenary session, Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, at the Radiological Society of North America’s 102nd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, Dr. Lee discussed moving from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare and how radiology will compete in that new health economy. Dr. Lee is senior vice president of the University of Utah Health Sciences, CEO of the University of Utah Healthcare and dean of the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Cost of care versus what shows up on the patient bill.
In her presentation, “Health Care Transformation: Driving Value through Imaging,” Dr. Lee explained that the amount billed to the patient is different than the actual cost of services provided, and that healthcare is the only industry in the world that does not have cost data. Dr. Lee highlighted the ways Utah Healthcare costed out every element of care in their delivery system, from the provider’s time to the cost of a syringe. These efforts resulted in the creation of tools to measure costs for any diagnosis. The only constant was the variability, due to inconsistent processes, according to Lee.
Opportunities to reduce costs
Lee also said that imaging is front and center in the way we think of healthcare and accounts for 13 percent of the total percentage of the costs of Medicare. She believes there are tremendous opportunities for efficiency. She said labor accounts for 80 percent of costs, and imaging interpretation is one of the largest cost areas. She suggested lean management training as one way to provide more efficiencies.
Increasing value
As healthcare moves away from fee-for-service and incorporates a value-based philosophy into every aspect of care, providers of radiology, too, must find ways to increase value while reducing costs. Choosing dosage levels wisely, along with insisting that technical components are in the highest working order provides safer, better images resulting in improved diagnoses.
RadSite helps radiological organizations with quality issues as well as accreditation for advanced diagnostic imaging. When you select RadSite as your accrediting organization, you receive the RadSite quality seal and you pay much less for our accreditation than you would with other programs. In addition, our application process is simple and cost-effective. Everything is online, so there is no need to mail bulky packages. Our online “wizard” guides you step-by-step through the entire application process.
Accreditation Requirements
Under the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), all imaging providers who offer CT, MRI and Nuclear Medicine imaging exams and who bill for the technical component under the physician fee schedule must become accredited by a CMS-recognized accrediting agency to be eligible for future reimbursement.
RadSite’s MIPPA Accreditation Program, or MAP, allows providers to apply for accreditation of their CT, MRI, PET and SPECT imaging systems with a single application. Similar to other existing accreditation programs, MAP Accreditation includes a review of personnel, policies and procedures, as well as sample clinical images and phantom studies. Unlike other accrediting bodies, however, RadSite does not mandate the purchase of a specific phantom for the evaluation of the physics component, but rather accepts many standards phantoms that providers may already own, potentially saving facilities thousands of dollars at the beginning of the application process.
Final Thoughts | Radiology Value-Based Quality and Service
RadSite is a leader in promoting quality-based imaging standards along with safety and business efficiency practices in health care. RadSite’s MIPPA Accreditation Program (MAP) offers insurers an excellent contract management tool to focus on outcomes, costs and a quality improvement framework that brings value to your organization’s management of imaging services. We also offer educational programs, publish issue briefs and underwrite research on a complimentary basis to raise awareness of patient safety issues and to promote best practices.
Call or contact us via our website contact form to learn how RadSite can help you improve quality and save money on accreditation.