Radiologist report turnaround time: impact of pay-for-performance measures.
OBJECTIVE
Expedited finalized radiologist report turnaround times (RTAT) are considered an important quality care metric in medicine. This study was performed to evaluate the impact of a radiologist pay-for-performance (PFP) program on reducing RTAT.


METHODS
A radiologist PFP program was used to assess its impact on RTAT for all departmental reports from 11 subspecialty divisions. Study periods were 3 months before (baseline period) and immediately after (immediate period) the introduction of the program and 2 years later after the program had terminated (post period). Three RTAT components were evaluated for individual radiologists and for each radiology division: examination completion (C) to final signature (F), C to preliminary signature (P), and P to F.


RESULTS
Eighty-one radiologists met the inclusion criterion for the study and performed a final signature on 99,959 reports during the baseline period, 104,673 reports during the immediate period, and 91,379 reports during the post period. Mean C-F, C-P, and P-F for all reports decreased significantly from baseline to immediate to post period (p < 0.0001), with the largest effect on the P-F component. Similarly, divisional C-F, C-P, and P-F also significantly decreased (p < 0.0001) for all divisions except the C-F for nuclear and neurovascular radiology from baseline to immediate period and the C-P component from baseline to post period for cardiac radiology.


CONCLUSIONS
A radiologist PFP program appears to have a marked effect on expediting final report turnaround times, which continues after its termination.
Boland
Giles W L
GW
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, White Bldg. 270C, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02114, USA. gboland@partners.org
Halpern
Elkan F
EF
Gazelle
G Scott
GS
D000465:Algorithms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D011873:Radiology Information Systems; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D017749:Total Quality Management