MADISON, Wis., May 22, 2017 -- Radiology-TEACHES, an initiative of the American College of Radiology, has won the ABIM Foundation's Creating Value Challenge. The competition is aimed at recognizing innovative ideas and projects for teaching and implementing high-value health care among collaborative teams of clinicians, educators, quality improvement specialists, and health system administrators.
Radiology-TEACHES is an online portal that uses case vignettes within the ACR's Radiology Case Management System™ (RCMS), integrated with National Decisions Support Company's ACR Select™, to simulate the process of ordering imaging studies via integrated CDS. Learners, including medical students, receive this evidence-based feedback at the virtual point of order entry, thereby better understanding appropriate imaging utilization and empowering them to reduce waste.
Radiologists at the Baylor College of Medicine recognized that current medical education curricula lack evidence-based guidance regarding imaging appropriateness and cost. Through a partnership with the American College of Radiology and National Decision Support Company, radiologists at Baylor drove the create of Radiology-TEACHES.
Spearheaded by Dr. Marc H. Willis, DO, associate professor of radiology and associate chair for quality improvement at Baylor, Radiology-TEACHES is an education portal designed to improve a learner's knowledge of the appropriateness criteria, patient care, and cost of medical care.
"The goal of Radiology-TEACHES is to prepare current and future medical providers to deliver high-value health care by decreasing waste and increasing patient safety through improved imaging utilization, as outlined in health care's Triple Aim," said Dr. Willis, "The platform provides a simulated education environment that is flexible and scalable. It can be used across a wide spectrum — from individual learners to inter-professional teams — ensuring patients receive the best care possible. That's something we should all be focused on as we transition from volume to value-based care."
Through the Radiology-TEACHES initiative, NDSC and the ACR are providing practical educational and support tools for healthcare providers beginning at the earliest point in their careers to help understand the economic and clinical benefits of appropriate imaging.
"Connecting to ACR Select was essential to give students access to evidence-based appropriateness criteria, information about how to order contrast, relative radiation dose data, and a cost range for different imaging exams," said Dr.Willis.
For more information about Radiology-TEACHES visit: https://www.acr.org/Advocacy/Informatics/Radiology-TEACHES
About National Decision Support Company
National Decision Support Company delivers enterprise-wide Clinical Decision Support solutions that enable more appropriate care, improve population health, and reduce cost. NDSC's CareSelect Imaging™ converts published guidelines into actionable criteria that is delivered directly into the EMR workflow. Criteria covers adult and pediatric patient populations featuring guidelines sourced directly from the Society for Pediatric Radiology. For more information, visit www.nationaldecisionsupport.com.
About CareSelect Imaging™
CareSelect Imaging expands on NDSC's foundational ACR Select™ solution to deliver a comprehensive range of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for diagnostic imaging in both adult and pediatric patient populations. AUC is sourced from a growing list of qualified Provider Led Entities (qPLE), including the American College of Radiology, the American College of Cardiology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging to ensure compliance with the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA).