ACR Learning Network: Learning From the Best

Learn about high-performing site teams in the ACR Learning Network — and the improvement strategies they are pursuing.

When site teams graduate from the ACR ImPower Program, we invite them to join the learning network for their respective improvement collaborative as "star sites."

Star site participants continue to refine processes and implement new strategies related to key drivers of performance. These learnings and corresponding performance data are shared with others in the network and with teams just beginning their improvement journey in the program.

The exemplary work of these star site performance teams is highlighted below. Contact ACRlearningnetwork@acr.org for more information including opportunities for introductions to learning network team members.

Star Sites and Improvement Strategies

Learning Network

Star Sites

Improvement Strategies
Lung Cancer Screening
  • Duly Health and Care, Downers Grove, IL
  • Stanford Health Care, Palo Alto, CA
  • Radiology Associates Imaging, Daytona Beach, FL
  • Northeast Georgia Health System, Gainesville, GA
  • University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
  • University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH

These site teams are pursuing a variety of strategies to increase the volume of people being screened for lung cancer who meet the USPSTF screening eligibility criteria. They have increased lung cancer screening volumes by focusing on factors such as:

  • A simplified, standard process for ordering screening exams.
  • Ensuring providers and patients understand the value of screening.
  • Improving smoking history documentation.
Mammography Positioning
  • MemorialCare Breast Center at Long Beach Memorial, Long Beach, CA
  • Stanford Health Care, Palo Alto, CA
  • Solis Mammography, Addison, TX
  • Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
  • Doris Kupferle Breast Center at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital, Fort Worth, TX

Important elements these star site teams have discovered leading to strides in mammography positioning involve:

  • The ongoing development and maintenance of technologists’ skills.
  • Clear and consistent communication both between technologists and radiologists and between technologists and patients.
  • Practice consensus about — and a corresponding way to measure — image quality.
Prostate MR Image Quality
  • Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
  • Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
  • Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT

The site teams aimed to align the prostate MR protocol with the most up-to-date PI-RADS® guidelines in order to enhance the accuracy of detecting and localizing clinically significant prostate cancer. Factors that contribute to improving image quality include:

  • Ensuring consistent patient prep.
  • Development and maintenance of technologists’ skills.
  • Fostering good communication between radiologists and technologists.
Recommendations Follow-up Hudson Valley Radiologists, PC, Poughkeepsie, NY

Site teams are identifying key processes and practices to improve the number of patients who complete a recommended follow-up for an incidentally detected lung nodule, such as:

  • Consistent use of standard recommendation guidelines in the radiology report.
  • Flagging reports with actionable recommendations.
  • Robust data collection and reporting process.