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CHICAGO – Radiological Society of North America President Gary J. Becker, MD, set the tone for the organization's 95th RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting Sunday with a call for quality and measuring.
"Man has measured everything from the number of days in the year to the weight of atoms, yet we are just beginning to apply this penchant to measuring and improving the healthcare we deliver," Becker said in an opening address Sunday in Chicago.
His speech, titled "Quality Counts," mirrors the theme of this year's meeting, which has drawn thousands of radiologists, radiology oncologists and other medical imaging professionals from around the world to Chicago's McCormick Place.
Becker, a professor of vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, emphasized how closely connected quality is to informatics and quantitative imaging.
In an interview with Healthcare IT News in December 2008, as he began his year-long term as the RSNA's president, Becker said his top priority would be turning the attention of radiologists worldwide to the importance of quantitative imaging in an era of personalized medicine.
"Quantitative imaging and informatics can underpin our quality improvement efforts and illuminate the path to best practices," he said. "Quality care must have a fresh new look if we are to remain the stewards of medical imaging in the future."
The role of information technology in radiology is 'huge' and growing, Becker said.
"Consider the following informatics tools that are increasingly vital to the present and future practice of radiology: computerized physician order entry (decision support tools), scheduling, PACS, quantitative algorithms for detection (CAD), lesion characterization (diagnosis) and response to therapy, voice recognition, standardized lexicons (RadLex) and structured reporting," he said.
he said."There are more, but the point is that it has begun to play an increasingly important role in quality improvement,"
Radiology depends on quantitative imaging and informatics to deliver top quality care and improve accuracy and workflow, which is becoming critical as data continues to grow in volume and complexity, he said Sunday.
