Contrast and Clarity with the JACR

Inappropriate medical imaging results in low-value, excess imaging - but what about the environmental impact? Maddi and Jeff sit down with Gregory Cavanagh, MD, Julia Schoen, MD, MS, and Elizabeth Rula, PhD to discuss how their study estimated excess green house gas emissions that are associated with inappropriate medical imaging in the Medicare Part B population from 2017 to 2021. Find the JACR a...

The incidental finding of hepatic steatosis on imaging may present an avenue for opportunistic screening, leading to more efficient identification of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and risk prediction for fibrosis. How can radiologists best facilitate this? In this episode, Maddi and Jeff sit down with Emily Schonfeld, MD and Andrea Siobhan Kierans, MD to discuss...

Have you ever wondered what additional screening measures could be implemented by utilizing information from routine CT scans? In this episode, Maddi and Jeff were joined by Soterios Gyftopoulos, MD, MBA, FACR and Casey Pelzl, MPH to discuss their research about how simple, opportunistic CT bone density screening could transform bone health and healthcare spending. Find the JACR article here: http...

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is the largest pay-for-performance program that links reimbursement to performance of Medicare clinicians. How have radiologists performed under this program and are there certain predictors of success? In this episode, Maddi and Jeff are joined by YoonKyung Chung, PhD and Lauren Nicola, MD to discuss their findings about radiologists' performanc...

Join us for the last installment of this three part series about re-imagining the radiology residency! In this episode, Fatima Elahi, DO guest co-hosts with Maddi and Jeff to discuss RadDiscord, which is a free educational digital community that allows equalized access to high-quality education. Available to medical students, radiology residents, as well as attending physicians, the platform allow...

Part 2 of Revamping the Radiology Residency! Fatima Elahi, DO joins Maddi and Jeff again to discuss competency-based education and its feasibility for real-world adoption in residencies. Priscilla Slanetz, MD, MPH, FACR gives her insight regarding metrics and standardized radiology residency curricula to enable a competency-based education that is time independent. Find the JACR articles here: htt...

If you could build your own radiology residency from theground up, what would be the key ingredients you would include? In this episode, Jeff and Maddi invite Fatima Elahi, DO to join them in a discussion on how they would revamp the radiology residency. They also get insights from MaryScanlon, MD and how she has adapted the radiology residency as the program director at her own institution.  She...

How do academic radiology chairs view the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in practice and how do they intend on implementing it in their departments? In this episode, Jeff and Maddi catch up with Elizabeth Burnside, MD, MPH, MS and Elizabeth Morris, MD who found in their recent study that radiology chairs have high levels of optimism about implementing AI in clinical practice. Although cost wa...

Now that large language models (LLMs) are widely available, how do radiology program directors view their use among residency applicants to craft their personal statements? In this episode, Maddi interviews Lars Grimm, MD, MHS, FSBI about his recent JACR publication and observations regarding the unwelcome but inevitable use of LLMs by applicants. Find the JACR manuscript here: https://www.jacr.or...

What are the projections for the radiologist workforce and imaging volumes in the future? Maddi and Jeff interview Eric Christensen, PhD and Jay Parikh, MD about their two most recent JACR manuscripts where they project future imaging utilization and the radiologist workforce through 2055. They also catch up with Matthew Phelps, MD about his accompanying commentary on ways to streamline the traini...

Does imaging price transparency impact downstream patient decision making to receive recommended care? In this episode, Jeff and Maddi interview Gelareh Sadigh, MD about her recent work entitled "Unintended Consequences of Price Transparency Initiatives: Examining Patient Decision Making in Imaging Services." Find the JACR article here: https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440(24)00831-7/fulltext

What are the overall costs to a radiology department to adequately staff multidisciplinary conferences (MDCs)? Jeff and Maddi discuss the challenges associated with MDCs despite their overall added value to patient care and management. Lindsay Stratchko, DO shares her insights based on her recent manuscript entitled "Unreimbursed Costs of Multidisciplinary Conferences to a Radiology Department: A...

In this bonus episode, Maddi and Jeff revisit the use of nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) in interventional radiology. Will Lindquester, MD and Matt Hawkins, MD share their perspectives as interventional radiologists regarding the increasing use of NPPs for procedures as well as the financial advantages of employing NPPs within a physician-led IR team. Find the article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.n...

Can an imaging dashboard improve communication between the emergency department and radiology as well as cut down on the number of phone calls? Maddi and Jeff interview Ali Dhanaliwala, MD, PhD and Tessa Cook, MD, PhD, CIIP about their experiences in creating and deploying an Emergency Department-Radiology dashboard. Drs. Dhanaliwala and Cook share their methodology as well as the encouraging subj...

In the last installment of NPPs in radiology series, Maddi and Jeff interview Sharon D’Souza, MD, MPH for her insights into nonphysician practitioner (NPP) scope of practice and patient safety.  Dr. D’Souza serves as an executive board member of the Physicians for Patient Protection (PPP) and shared her experiences with both radiology advocacy and as an active member in the ACR.   Find the JACR ar...

In the second installment of a three-part series, Maddi and Jeff continue to discuss nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) in radiology. Richard Duszak, MD shares his perspective as a radiologist on how disruptive innovation has played a part in the increasing share of office-based NPP imaging interpretation. Find the article-in-press here: https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440(24)00843-3/abstract

In the first episode of a three-part series, Maddi and Jeff explore nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) in the field of radiology. In this first episode, they interview Eric Christensen, PhD about his most recent article "Office-Based Diagnostic Imaging Interpreted by Nonphysician Practitioners: Characteristics, Recent Trends, and State Variation" to help get a lay of the land of the current state o...

In this episode, Maddi and Jeff discuss their thoughts on direct patient access to radiology reports in electronic medical records, and how radiologists may need to tailor their reports to the non-medical consumer for better comprehension. Inspired by the systematic analysis performed by Mohammad Alarifi PhD, MS and co-authors entitled "Patient, Referring Physician, and Radiologist Opinions Over T...

In this episode, Maddi and Jeff discuss upcoming changes to radiology residency with the re-introduction of oral certifying board examinations and the potential challenges it introduces to residents and teaching attendings. An interview with Judah Burns, MD provides background on the evolving trends in trainee participation in radiologists' workload from 2008 to 2020 based on his and his co-au...

How can virtual multidisciplinary team meetings be used to promote global health and empower residencies that lack teaching resources? Maddi explores the virtual team meetings that have been established between the radiology department at UNC-Chapel Hill and Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi with Katrina McGinty, MD, Benjamin Brown, MD, and Amarylis Mapurisa, MD. Find the article in the...

In this episode, Maddi and Jeff explore current medical 3D printing trends and get a chance to discuss the RSNA-ACR 3D Printing Registry with Kenneth Wang, MD, PhD and Frank Rybicki, MD, PhD, co-chairs of the 3D Printing Registry Committee. The registry seeks to collect case data about 3D printing that is performed to enable benchmarking and quality improvement. Drs. Wang and Rybicki gave us insig...

In this episode, hosts Maddi and Jeff debate the use of whole body MRI screening, inspired by the published opinions of Daniel Sodickson, MD, PhD and Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, MS in the November issue of the JACR. In the second segment, Maddi talks with Robert Optican, MD, MHA, FACR about the seven challenges in radiology practice that were described by Bettina Siewert, MD and co-authors from the 2...

Join us for the inaugural episode of "Contrast and Clarity with the JACR," where Maddi and Jeff invite you to explore the dynamic world of radiology. This debut episode kicks off this enlightening series and sets the stage for future discussions.