ACR Select Supports Statewide Risk-based Healthcare Payment Model

ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- National Decision Support Company (NDSC) announced expansion of its growing customer base. More than 30 leading healthcare provider organizations and radiology practices have demonstrated their commitment to delivering higher quality imaging services through the implementation of ACR Select, a comprehensive national standards clinical decision support platform that provides evidence-based decision support for the ordering of all medical imaging procedures using criteria from the American College of Radiology.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), an active participant and supporter of the Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative—a collaboration between Arkansas Medicaid, the Arkansas Department of Human Services, and two of the states largest private insurers (Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and QualChoice)—has implemented ACR Select.  The payment model intends to improve quality of care by providing risk-based incentives to health care providers to deliver more efficient, quality care.

"At UAMS, ACR Select provides the platform for us to position against the current quality metrics mandated by the state's initiative and helps us prepare for broader risk-based payment models in the future. The nationally recognized evidence-based criteria in ACR Select provide ordering physicians real-time decision support as to the most appropriate imaging test," said David Miller, Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer, UAMS.  "ACR Select ensures that we're delivering the right test for the patient while allowing us to have a complete understanding of the impact imaging has on the care cycle."

"The opportunity for radiology is significant because we can distinguish ourselves by the quality of service we provide and particularly by the quality of advice we provide," said Dr. James McDonald, Vice Chair, Department of Radiology, UAMS.  "With ACR Select, our radiologists become an integral part of the patient care process by augmenting the decision support provided by ACR Select with focused, traceable consultations based on an understanding of the patients condition and requested procedure."

"This new payment model provides an incentive for physicians to order the correct imaging procedure and the implementation of ACR Select in our order entry process provides physicians the decision support they need to do the job correctly," said Miller. "ACR Select improves our efficiency without compromising quality."

"Having both public and private payers accept imaging decisions based on ACR Select in lieu of the Radiology Benefit Managers (RBM) prior authorization model is proof of the validity of our content and integration approach," said Michael Mardini, CEO, NDSC. "It's exactly the outcome we had hoped for and has the potential save millions of dollars and remove barriers between the caregiver and patient."

All leading EHR platforms have integrations in place with NDSC and the company continues to extend the availability of ACR Select across all healthcare IT platforms where imaging services are ordered or requested.  "The growing interest and adoption of ACR Select is directly linked to the transformation of our healthcare economy," said Mardini. "It's a new economy that rewards on value and we're excited to be an important part of this transformation."

National Decision Support Company will be demonstrating its latest developments and offering free trial registration to the ACR Select portal at HIMSS 2014, booth #4235, February 24-26, 2014, Orlando, FL.

About National Decision Support Company

National Decision Support Company (NDSC) is the exclusive distributor of national standards clinical decision support (CDS) imaging guidelines. NDSC provides the technical platform, support, and licensing of digitally consumable CDS that continuously educates providers regarding the latest evidence-based approach to medicine without disrupting the doctor-patient relationship or delaying needed care. For more information, visit http://www.NationalDecisionSupport.com.

About ACR Select

ACR Select, provided by National Decision Support Company, is the complete web service version of American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria® (AC). ACR AC is a comprehensive national standards clinical decision support database that provides evidence-based decision support for the appropriate utilization of all medical imaging procedures. More than 300 volunteer physicians, representing more than 20 radiology and non-radiology specialty organizations, participate on the ACR AC expert panels, continuously updating these nationally transparent guidelines, and providing real-time access to the latest medical imaging decision support. The ACR Select platform can be easily integrated with computerized ordering and electronic health record (EHR) systems so healthcare organizations can effortlessly consume ACR AC guidelines and ensure that the right patient gets the right scan for the right indication. For more information, visit http://www.ACRselect.org.

SOURCE National Decision Support Company