Practice Description: A single-facility screening and diagnostic breast-imaging center

Topic: Administrative Inquiry

Issue Overview: The Lead Mammography Technologist at a Mammologix client facility must make a strategic choice. As a facility on the verge of expansion, they plan to install a new MR unit. A question arises: Is investing in a breast coil justified for enhancing their MR imaging capabilities, considering the service is unavailable with their current equipment?

Faced with the need for a quick, information-based decision, the technologist reaches out to Mammologix. She knows her facility regularly receives mammography medical outcome audit data Mammologix collects for her facility, including recommendations for breast MR procedures. Mammologix instantly assures the technologist it can accommodate her request. While she returns to caring for patients, Mammologix will compile the information she needs using the audit data available.

Resolution: Recognizing the urgency and importance of the technologist’s request, the Mammologix reporting team springs into action. First, they inquire about how many patients who had a breast imaging procedure at the location were recommended for a breast MR. This initial process is crucial for assessing the demand and use of a breast coil-equipped MR unit.

Understanding the unmet needs of the facility’s patient community was the main aim of Mammologix’s investigation. So next, the team gathers additional information about the imaging choices of these patients going forward, which involves tracking whether or not the client’s patients recommended for breast MR sought successive imaging services there or elsewhere. The added analysis provides insights into the impact current equipment limitations have on patient retention.

Armed with this detailed audit data, Mammologix compiles its findings into a clear, comprehensive presentation and delivers them to the facility’s Lead Mammography Technologist. This report clearly shows the direct effects a breast coil for MR imaging will have on patient care quality and facility loyalty for our client. Mammologix equips the facility with the evidence needed to evaluate the value of the proposed investment.

Providing our clients with an informed and patient-focused approach is one of Mammologix’s main goals. By leveraging Mammologix’s expertise and comprehensive audit services, our clients can enhance their service offerings and patient satisfaction through data-driven decisions that improve operational success!

Client Practice Description: Multi-facility treatment and comprehensive care regional mammography group

Topic: Audits for Certification

Issue Overview: During the tight timeline of audit season, this client faced the daunting task of compiling and auditing extensive data reports for each of the facilities in their mammography group to meet the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC) Quality Measurement Program standards. These measure our partner’s adherence to specific quality indicators, which are crucial for maintaining certification and ensuring the delivery of high-quality breast care. To measure and calculate the NQMBC™ Program indicators 1-8 and keep their certification, the client made a call to Mammologix, their data outsourcing partner, to notify us of their need.

Resolution: Audits for our partners at Mammologix are a specialty, knowing all facilities have different needs. As a strong advocate of the NQMBC™ Program, Mammologix is pleased to assist any client in providing this information as part of its routine reporting. As soon as the client contacts us, our team begins working with each facility immediately. We work with each respective nurse navigation team, mammography program manager, and interpreting physicians to find all the details they need to report, given their breast center type and selection of quality measures indicators. Once these are determined, the measures are calculated and reported to the client for submission to the NQMBC™ Program.

To address the ongoing needs of our client and ensure their sustained compliance with NCBC standards, Mammologix established a proactive 6-month audit cycle. This structured approach allowed us to update the client’s performance data regularly, keeping them informed of their standing with NQMBC™ Program indicators. Our dedicated follow-up mechanism included direct communication with the client to review the latest audit findings, discuss potential areas for improvement, and strategize on implementing best practices for future audits.

By offering on-demand access to a wealth of indicator information, data, and metadata tailored to the client’s specifications, Mammologix is a supportive resource for our clients. Our services allow our partners to continue to care for their patients while we take care of the data! One of Mammologix’s primary goals is empowering our client’s breast care team to deliver exceptional breast care and improve their patients’ lives and clinical outcomes.

Practice Description: Multi-facility regional mammography group made up of mixed breast center types, ranging from screening to comprehensive, across several counties

Topic: Biopsy Outcome Reports

Issue Overview: This Mammologix client is a health network that serves nearly 40,000 patients across its expansive breast imaging services. They use a complete Electronic Medical Records (EMR) solution, including a mammography tracking package. Upon inspection, the group’s Breast Imaging Practice Manager found that, despite the sophistication of their existing systems, a critical gap existed: the system could not aggregate and analyze comprehensive outcome information, including biopsy outcomes, for all their facilities. The network needed to correlate biopsy types, pathological findings, and concordance across all its facilities and physicians and synthesize this information into a rolling 12-month mammography medical outcome audit for the entire network, including individual reports for each interpreting physician. This requirement was not just a matter of administrative preference but a crucial element for enhancing and ensuring continuous improvement in patient care. With this in mind, the Breast Imaging Practice Manager contacted Mammologix in search of a resolution to their specific circumstances.

Resolution: Understanding the unique needs and challenges of each breast imaging practice they encounter, Mammologix’s team approached this complex scenario with a tailored solution. Upon entering a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement with the client, the team got to work. First, Mammologix established an HL7 connection with the group’s EMR system to gather outcome data. The team also worked with the group’s pathology lab partner to establish a secure digital feed of biopsy results to create a set of comprehensive data for auditing.

Then, using its expertise and robust data management capabilities, Mammologix formulated the exact reports specified and continues to deliver them to the group’s interpreting physicians to this day. Every month, these audit reports are referenced by a forum of the group’s staff to discuss and review ways to improve the quality of care and services provided to the community they serve. The information facilitates a retrospective look at their performance and possibilities for proactive steps toward better patient outcomes.

Specialized data management and analysis can be transformative, and Mammologix recognizes the importance of creating solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by clients like this breast imaging group. Targeted, customizable solutions with Mammologix can address specific needs, significantly enhancing patient care and operational efficiency.

Practice Description: A single-facility screening and diagnostic breast-imaging center

Topic: Turnaround Time Reports

Issue Overview: The Breast Imaging Manager at a leading breast imaging center faced a critical operational challenge that many in the healthcare industry face: optimizing the turnaround times for screening mammogram reports. This bottleneck was not just a logistical issue but a significant factor impacting patient satisfaction and care quality. Despite her team’s efforts, the manager observed that their report finalization times were lagging behind their facility’s optimal average and the varying national averages in turnaround time. Aware of how many factors can influence turnaround time, like patient volume, technological adoption, staffing levels, and operational practices, and determined to enhance her practice’s efficiency and patient care quality, she reached out to Mammologix, a partner known for its expertise in data management and outcome tracking in breast imaging.

Resolution: The Mammologix team meticulously collected data from the past 12 months, analyzing it to produce a longitudinal study that laid bare the trends in report finalization times. This analysis revealed specific patterns that, once understood, offered a clear path toward optimization. Armed with this insight, the breast imaging manager convened with her lead interpreting physician to devise a strategic plan of action.

Mammologix assured her they could assist her facility by using its collected information to perform other outcome-tracking and reporting services. After analyzing 12 months of the facility’s data, the Mammologix team successfully created and reported a longitudinal analysis study for the client’s review of the average turnaround of finalized reports for that period. Using the trends and specific patterns revealed through Mammologix’s analysis, the breast imaging manager worked with her lead interpreting physician to make changes that helped reduce the turnaround time and level out some of the fluctuations the report had identified, resulting in a higher level of service and improved patient care.

Mammologix empowers breast imaging centers by prioritizing collaborative efforts and customizable data services, benefiting patients through improved outcomes. By partnering with Mammologix, our clients can confidently return to providing high-quality breast imaging services while we seek out the answers and information they need.

Practice Description: Single-location diagnostic breast center with multiple mammography suites

Topic: Interpreting Physician Reports

Issue Overview: Upon returning from leave, the Imaging Manager informed an interpreting physician at this client’s facility that they had yet to meet the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) requirements for continued mammography reading experience. The MQSA mandates specific minimum reading volumes for interpreting physicians to keep their skills sharp and up-to-date, a crucial factor in maintaining high-quality patient care in breast imaging services. This posed a risk to the physician’s ability to practice and the facility’s ability to provide their patients with services. Concerned, the Imaging Manager made a call to Mammologix immediately.

Resolution: For this issue, our team worked with the Imaging Manager and facility to create a plan for helping the interpreting physician. Using FDA policy, Mammologix developed a two-pronged approach for documenting rereadings and multi-read imaging to save our client time and resources. First, our team evaluates all previous interpretations the interpreting physician has read to ascertain if any had been compared with earlier readings by other physicians. This was a critical step as the MSQA allows for specific readings to count toward continued experience requirements if they involve comparative analysis with past mammograms. Mammologix’s team then reported these readings to the facility. Some clients only require this information for some cases of this issue, but in others where more readings are necessary, Mammologix provides further assistance.

Since this client’s interpreting physician still needed more readings to meet the minimum MQSA requirements, Mammologix recommended the facility and interpreting physician conduct rereadings of mammograms per FDA and MQSA guidelines. Mammologix reported the facility’s original readings and multi-reading interpreting physician data to the client to help them find which exams this physician could reread. Then, our team received all rereadings from the facility once they were completed and worked to compare original readings, the physician’s additional rereadings, and any discrepancies or confirmations from this process. Finally, Mammologix added all film rereadings to our system and generated a report of multi-read mammograms.

With this information, all the physician’s readings are fully accessible to the facility, and Mammologix also makes a report of all patients the physician reads for further documentation. Mammologix lifts the burden of these reports off the shoulders of the client and helps them stay accredited. We also audit continuing experience qualifications for facilities that partner with us for reporting, providing additional support to ensure ongoing MQSA compliance.

Through Mammologix’s detailed and strategic approach, interpreting physicians can ensure they meet the MQSA’s minimum requirements for continued experience, safeguarding their ability to practice and their facility’s accreditation status. Every year, Mammologix runs reports like these and many others to ensure our clients can focus on patient care and services while we take care of the data. Facilities know they can rely on Mammologix for custom-made services to suit their needs, aiding staff and patients alike. Our services reinforce our clients’ commitment to maintaining the highest standards of care in breast imaging.