A new study seeks to develop process-based quality indicators (QIs) for patients undergoing IR procedures, filling a need for a standardized, evidence-based approach to assessing the quality of care of patients undergoing IR procedures.
“As modern healthcare systems become increasingly reliant on IR procedures, ensuring appropriate quality of care is of utmost importance,” says Victor Lee, lead author of Developing Process-Based Quality Indicators for Interventional Radiology: A Feasible Standardized Evidence-Based Approach to Assessing the Quality of Care of Patients Undergoing Interventional Radiology Procedures, one of the SIR 2025 Featured Abstracts. Lee believes that assessing the quality of care requires three metrics: structure, process and outcome.
“Though outcome measures of quality of care have been longstanding elements of surgery and procedural subspecialities, over the past decade, increasing emphasis has been placed on process-based measures as an effective means of assessing quality of care,” he said.
To fill this gap, researchers developed process-based QIs using a modified Delphi technique based on the RAND–UCLA Appropriateness Methodology. They performed a structured review of published literature, including clinical guidelines and semi-structured interviews with nationally recognized leaders in IR, to identify candidate process-based QIs and determine the level of evidence supporting the validity of their use.
“A national expert panel comprising 12 members, including IRs and multidisciplinary members of the healthcare team, was convened, which rated candidate process-based QIs on their validity and feasibility during two rounds of independent ratings,” Lee said. Process-based QIs were selected by the expert panel’s median ratings of validity and feasibility and the level of agreement among the expert panel as measured by a disagreement index during the final round of independent ratings.
This study employed validated methodology to identify a comprehensive set of 47 process-based QIs for patients undergoing IR procedures.
“Ultimately, 47 process-based QIs were developed, encompassing four domains: departmental processes, pre-procedural, periprocedural and postprocedural patient care,” said Lee. These developed process-based QIs facilitate the assessment of quality of care in interventional radiology and identify a priori of actionable steps for subsequent quality improvement initiatives.
Lee and his team intend to deploy these developed process-based QIs in a retrospective observational cohort study at their large, university-affiliated institution, where they will assess the quality of care for IR patients by measuring adherence to the quality indicators and evaluate the association between quality of care and post-procedural complications.
“We hope that employing a validated methodology to identify a comprehensive set of process-based quality indicators will advance quality improvement initiatives in IR and encourage collaboration with other investigators to build upon this meaningful work,” Lee said. Lee will present his findings at SIR 2025 on Tuesday, April 1, at 3.p.m. during the Practice Development, Economics, and Quality 2 session.
