Your gateway to CMS compliance — accurate, secure, free.

CMS measure compliance

Ensure precise CT radiation dosing and enhance patient safety with the CMS Measure Compliance software

About the measure

As part of Alara's commitment to improving radiology quality, Alara Imaging serves as steward for new measures developed by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) for use in CMS Quality Programs.

The measures provide a standardized method for monitoring the performance of diagnostic CT to discourage unnecessarily high radiation doses, a risk factor for cancer, while preserving image quality.

The measures are included in three CMS quality programs:

These measures are electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). As radiology measures, standardized data elements are derived from structured fields within both the electronic health record (EHR) and the radiology electronic clinical data systems.

Because of limitations in eCQM formats, they cannot currently access and consume elements from these radiology sources. Alara translation software was developed to transform primary data into a format that can be ingested by these new eCQMs. This translation software is provided freely to hospitals and physician groups. Hospitals and physician groups can then use their preferred vendor for eCQM calculation and CMS reporting.

Interested in supporting calculation of the measure?

Review the documentation

Interested in learning more about the measures?

Visit the eCQI Resource Center government website.

Frequently
Asked
Questions

What are the “Excessive Radiation Dose or Inadequate Image Quality for Diagnostic Computed Tomography (CT) in Adults” CMS measures?

What is Alara's role in these CMS quality measures?

What is the rationale for these quality measures?

What CMS programs include these measures and when do the measures financial incentives take effect?

What is the Alara Software for CMS Measure Compliance?

Why was this software created?

How does the software work?

How is image quality calculated?

Does the measure consider why a CT scan was performed?

Does the measure consider patient size?

How were image noise thresholds established and will radiologists be inundated with low image quality CTs?

Why doesn’t the measure include other variables in the calculation such as patient demographics or the type of scanner used to perform the test?

How can I be responsible for radiation dose levels given the hospital pays for and manages the machinery and technologists?

Where can I learn more about the science, methodology, and development of these measures?

How much does the Alara software when used for CMS measure computation cost?

How is data security ensured?

As an integration partner, how can I connect my EHR, RIS, or PACS system?

As a technology partner, how can I receive software results to serve my customers?

Where can I find additional detail on how to deploy this software?

Where can I find information from CMS about quality measures?

What additional references can I review to learn more?