Radiology Coding Alert

Get started by following the training of technologists.

In order to finalize a single set of standards in 2015, the joint commission is collecting additional information about several critical areas of radiation safety. Quality control is a key focus for 2015 and you need to emphasize the need for documentation and technologist trainings to your providers.

“The areas addressed are overall patient safety, oversight of imaging services, staff competency, radiation safety procedures, equipment maintenance and quality control,” says Christy Hembree, CPC, Team Leader, Summit Radiology Services, Cartersville, GA. 

The critical areas include:

• Documentation of the radiation dose.
• Annual equipment performance evaluations by a medical physicist or Magnetic Resonance scientist.
• Minimum qualifications for radiologic technologists who perform computerized tomography (CT) exams. These requirements were to have become effective July 1, 2015. Since this subject is covered in the now postponed revised requirements, this date is also no longer effective.
• Requirements that align with the State of California’s CT law.

Send feedback at imagesafety@jointcommision.org. 

Hembree lists the following additional critical areas of safety.

• Meeting the needs of the pediatric population through imaging protocols and considering patient size or body habitus when establishing imaging protocols
• Management of safety risks in the MRI environment 

Collection of data on incidents in which pre-identified radiation dose limits have been exceeded

“One of the issues is reviewing and possible changes to the minimum qualifications of radiologic technologists who perform CTs,” says Michele Midkiff, CPC-I, PCS, RCC, an interventional and neuro-interventional radiology coding consultant in Mountain View, CA. “It would be prudent to be aware in advance of any impending changes, and make sure staff is trained appropriately.”

Resource:  To learn more, visit http://www.jointcommission.org/standards_information/prepublication_standards.aspx.