Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2017
Keywords:
MR, CT, Management, Action 13 - Stakeholder engagement and collaboration, Action 1 - Guidelines, implementation policies, and Clinical Decision Support (ESR iGuide), Action 12 - Cooperation with international radiation protection initiatives and other stakeholders including IAEA, WHO, ICRP, HERCA, European Commission, Action 1 - Clinical decision support, clinical imaging guidelines, Diagnostic procedure, Education and training
Authors:
K. Kumamaru, S. Aoki, S. Murayama, M. Okada, E. Maeda, T. Kubo, A. Machitori, Y. Watanabe, H. Honda
DOI:
10.1594/esi2017/ESI-0035
Background/Introduction
The Japan Radiological Society (JRS) recently launched the “Japan Safe Radiology” committee to achieve safer and more efficient medical imaging in Japan (Fig. 1. Please also refer to the EPOS #7496 which explains the overview of the Japan Safe Radiology project). The project targets a variety of topics related to safety and efficiency of medical imaging: equipment/scanner distribution,
radiation dose management,
standardization and optimization of image quality and radiology report,
and “Appropriate Utilization” of imaging.
Japan has the highest number of CT and MR scanners per population in the world (OECD Health Statistics 2016, European Society of Radiology (ESR) Insights Imaging (2017).
doi:10.1007/s13244-016-0523-4); this is favorable in terms of patient’s accessibility but carries a risk of overutilization (e.g.,
self-referral) when coupled with Japanese fee-for-service healthcare payment system.
During the fiscal year of 2014,
a total of 28 million CT exams and 14 million MR exams were performed using the national health insurance (Japan NBD open data).
The JRS and Japanese College of Radiology (JCR) jointly developed the imaging referral guideline in 2013 (Jpn J Radiol.
2016 Jan;34(1):43-79) which was revised and improved in 2016.
The guideline is published as a book,
but is expected to be incorporated into the clinical decision support (CDS) system in the future; development of CDS is ongoing and is supported by the JRS and governmental fund.
This presentation introduces our current activity and work on improving the appropriateness of imaging utilization in Japan.