An Analysis of Quality Measures in Diagnostic Radiology with Suggestions for Future Advancement

Radiology in the United States of America is evolving from a fee-for-service to a value-based, “pay-for-performance” system. Such a system requires objective measures, termed metrics, to grade performance. Current grading systems in health care, not designed with the unique nature of radiology in mind, often emphasize patient outcomes; this can be a challenge for measuring and grading performance in radiology, which is often several steps removed from patient outcome. At the present, while there are hundreds of individual radiology-specific metrics, there is no widely accepted overall standard for quality or value in diagnostic radiology services. This article analyzes the current system of radiology metrics and suggests a new direction for performance-based reimbursement in diagnostic radiology, focusing on a limited number of reasonably measurable outcomes-related factors that are specific to radiology.