Additional quality activities and the future

Abstract

As medicine and particularly cardiovascular procedures move into the future of value based strategies, cardiovascular imaging will need to provide documented value. For this to occur, robust quality will become an important aspect to reduce unnecessary downstream testing and provide the best diagnostic accuracy. Future mechanisms to demonstrate and improve quality are constantly evolving. These include the use of behavioral theory and feedback, team based quality improvement initiatives, utilization of online learning communities, public reporting mechanisms and the development of registries for cardiac imaging data. These initiatives will require further refinement and implementation as part of electronic health records to improve their accuracy and efficiency. Utilization of the data from these tools will play important roles as we develop clinical decision support systems that can be implemented at the point of care. This will ensure the highest value imaging based upon individual patient characteristics as part of population analysis.