Medical Imaging - 2015 Action Plan

In Luxembourg, medical imaging examinations are carried out more commonly than in other European countries. This development results in a significant increase in exposure of the Luxembourg population to ionising radiation, despite the considerable efforts made to optimise the doses delivered.

It is in this context that the government programme seeks to promote the recommendations of the Scientific Council in the field of health. At the meeting of the MISA/MSS Coordination Platform on 16 September 2014, the Ministry of Health and Social Security set up an ad hoc working group to prepare an action plan for March 2015.

This action plan aims, in particular, to promote better justification for medical imaging to improve the quality of care patients receive. Studies conducted in other European countries indicate that approximately 20 % of the examinations carried out are not justified, taking all types of medical imaging examination together.

Through this document, practical measures, divided into 4 priorities, are proposed:

1. a study of the conformity of prescriptions for medical imaging examinations will check, depending on the audit methods, both the suitability of the content of the prescription and the suitability of the prescribed examination for the medical indication. The study will be conducted at the start and end of the action plan implementation programme. This will allow any improvements to be documented,
2. active promotion of the best practice recommendations will aim to ensure better use by prescribers of the guidelines and increased patient awareness of reasoned use of imaging examinations,
3. the development and introduction of an ongoing prescription training module will help to bring the formal conformity of prescriptions up to 100 %,
4. the development of appropriate inspection procedures aims to guarantee adherence to best practice recommendations for medical imaging examinations.

For each priority area, a working group, the coordinator and the composition of which are stated in Appendix III, will be responsible for implementation.

To ensure that the financial resources of the State budget are used wisely, the authors of this action plan have created financing scenarios that deliver positive results with minimum expenditure, while deploying existing human resources in the administrations in question. The minimum budget required to make this project a success is EUR 120,000, spread over the years 2015 to 2017.

The objectives are defined in the form of results indicators:

• 50 % decrease in the number of examinations identified as unjustified between the first and second studies,
• bring formal conformity of prescriptions to 100 %,
• 5 % reduction in CT scans (based on 2014 figures),
• maintain good results for optimising the medical irradiation doses of each examination.

Stakeholders in the field will be involved in the different actions, particularly within the context of themed seminars. The project provides for a 3-year programming period and will end with the publication of a final report.