Epic Imaging receives 100% Mammography Quality Standards Act score

Epic Imaging recently received a 100 percent score on its yearly American College of Radiology (ACR) Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) inspection. Practice administrators in large part attribute its performance to MedInformatix Inc.'s Radiology Information System (RIS), a single platform solution the four-location, nearly 50-year-old practice implemented a year ago to perform billing, scheduling, imaging, physician workflow and electronic health records (EHR) functions.

MQSA requires mammography facilities to meet uniform quality standards devised to assure high-quality mammography for early breast cancer detection and treatment. As part of annual inspections, radiology practices performing mammographies are required to meet quality standards for personnel, equipment, maximum allowable radiation dosage, quality assurance, medical audit and outcome analysis, medical recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

With 15 physicians, Epic Imaging prides itself on being Oregon's largest and most technologically advanced outpatient imaging facility. In addition to mammography and positron emission mammography (PEM), the practice offers full-service, multi-modality imaging including 1.5T and 3T MRI; FONAR, multi-positional, open and upright MRI; breast MRI; breast-specific gamma imaging; ultrasound; 64-slice CT: PET/CT; nuclear medicine; bone densitometry; fluoroscopy/X-ray; and interventional pain management and therapeutic injections.

Epic Imaging's commitment to maximizing quality through the strategic use of technology prompted the practice to implement the fully customizable MedInformatix RIS, which fully captures all front and back end practice data in a highly visible format. The software's ability to support a large number of custom input fields was a crucial element in Epic's perfect MQSA score, said John Griffith, chief information officer and director of operations.

"Our former (UNIX-based Medfax) system was unable to combine practice, or document management with imaging functions, particularly mammography which accounts for such a major portion of our service offerings," Griffith said. "It had long become apparent that that application had reached the end of its development cycle. MedInformatix RIS runs on an SQL database, simplifying the integration of a variety of applications. It addresses all business and imaging functions in a true EHR that also supports our pain management practice as well as clinical, prescription and drug interaction data.

"You won't find that level of full functionality in any other RIS," Griffith said.

MedInformatix RIS' ability to support a virtually limitless number of input fields while generating highly readable reports was instrumental in enabling Epic to achieve its perfect MQSA score. "The inspector said that our mammography reports were the most thorough and best organized she had seen," Griffith said, referring to MedInformatix RIS' highly visual report format that's fully legible regardless of the number of information fields incorporated into the database.

MQSA guidelines, Griffith noted, are black-and-white. "You might have slight variations from inspector to inspector, but requirements for a passing grade are static." To earn a passing MQSA grade, radiology practices must provide mammography patients with:

• "Lay," or written reports in easy to understand language;
• A complaint mechanism whereby there is a clear process for addressing concerns; and,
• The ability to obtain original, as opposed to copies of mammograms when needed.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services accepts MQSA certification as evidence of compliance with mammography quality standards. Only radiology facilities with a current MQSA certificate are eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid payment for screening and diagnostic mammography.

"Apart from helping us attain a perfect MQSA score, MedInformatix is quick to support new operating systems like Windows 7, which further enhances the RIS system's value," Griffith said. "Other vendors take much longer to adopt useful system enhancements. Our practice benefits from MedInformatix's proactive approach."