Sampling imaging centers’ work
Covera has collected information on thousands of hospital-based and outpatient imaging facilities starting with its previous business work in the workers’ compensation field.
“Our primary interest is understanding which radiologist or radiology practices are achieving the highest level of diagnostic accuracy for their patients,” said Dan Elgort, Covera’s chief data science officer.
Covera has independent radiologists evaluate a sampling of patient care data on imaging centers to determine facilities’ error rates. It uses statistical modeling along with information on each center’s equipment, physicians, and use of industry-accepted patient protocols to determine the facilities’ rates of accuracy.
Covera expects to have about 1,500 imaging centers in the program by year’s end, said CEO Ron Vianu.
There are about 4,000 outpatient imaging centers in the United States, not counting thousands of hospital-based facilities, he estimated.
As a condition for participating in the program, each of the imaging centers has agreed to routinely send a sampling of their patients’ images and reports to Covera.
Mr. Vianu said studies have shown that radiologists frequently offer different diagnoses based on the same image taken during an MRI or CT scan. Among explanations are that some radiologists are better at analyzing certain types of images – like those of the brain or bones – and sometimes radiologists read images from exams they have less experience with, he said.
Mr. Vianu noted that most consumers give little thought to where to get an MRI or CT scan, and usually go where their doctors send them, the closest facility or, increasingly, the one that offers the lowest price. “Most people think of diagnostic imaging as a commodity, and that’s a mistake,” he said.
Dr. Rao applauded the effort by Walmart and Covera to identify imaging facilities likely to provide the most accurate reports. “I am sure centers that are worried about their quality will not be happy, but most quality operations would welcome something like this,” she said.
Few guides for consumers
Consumers have little way to distinguish the quality of care from one imaging center to the next. The American College of Radiology has an accreditation program but does not evaluate diagnostic quality.
“We would love to have more robust ... measurements” than what is currently available, said Geraldine McGinty, MD, chair of the college’s board of chancellors.
Facilities typically conduct peer reviews of their radiologists’ patient reports, but there is no public reporting of such results, she said.
Covera officials said they have worked with Walmart for nearly 2 years to demonstrate they could improve the quality of diagnostic care its employees receive. Part of the process has included reviewing a sample of Walmart employees’ health records to see where changes in imaging services could have caught potential problems.
Covera said the centers in its network were chosen based on quality and price was not a factor.
In an effort to curtail unnecessary tests, Walmart, like many large employers and insurers, requires its insured members to get authorization before getting CT scans and MRIs.
“Walmart is on the leading edge of focusing on quality of diagnostic imaging,” said Suzanne Delbanco, executive director of the Catalyst for Payment Reform, an employer-led health care think tank and advocacy group.
But Mark Stolper, executive vice president of Los Angeles–based RadNet, which owns 335 imaging centers nationally, questions how Covera has enough data to compare facilities. “This would be the first time,” he said, “I have seen or heard of a company trying to narrow a network of imaging centers that is based on quality instead of price.”
Ms. Woods said that, even though the new imaging strategy is not based on financial concerns, it could pay dividends down the road.
“It’s been demonstrated time and time again that high quality ends up being more economical in the long run because inappropriate care is avoided, and patients do better,” she said.
Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.