With support from Eli Lilly and Company, this collaborative seeks to improve MRI workflow and care coordination, access, protocols and timely imaging as well as MRI technical and clinical expertise.
Within the Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and treatment pathway, multiple challenges can affect patients being evaluated for or receiving amyloid-targeting therapies, particularly around MRI access, imaging quality, ARIA monitoring and coordination across care teams. Participating facility teams identify a priority problem within their local MRI workflow and use structured quality improvement methods to evaluate opportunities for improvement. Teams are supported in examining barriers and best practices related to patient engagement, scheduling and access, care coordination, ARIA MRI protocols, image acquisition, timely baseline and monitoring imaging, and MRI interpretation and reporting.
There are gaps and barriers in the coordination of care for patients being evaluated for or receiving amyloid-targeting therapies, potentially affecting timely and consistent MRI imaging, interpretation and follow-up.
Each facility forms an interdisciplinary project team consisting of four to six members who participate in the ACR ImPower Program, alongside a cohort of colleagues from other institutions. Together, these teams will receive quality improvement (QI) education and utilize QI tools to identify and test ways to increase the safe, timely and effective use of MRI, including monitoring for amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in the care of patients receiving amyloid-targeting therapies for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
Tammie L.S. Benzinger, MD, PhD
Hugh Monroe Wilson Professor of Radiology; Chief, MRI Service; Professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering, WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of RadiologyTammie Benzinger, MD, PhD, is a WashU neuroradiologist and nationally recognized leader in Alzheimer’s imaging, specializing in PET and MRI biomarkers, ARIA and the translation of advanced imaging into clinical research and practice.
