Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation of Radiologists: Strategies and Tools for Simplifying a Complex Process

The Joint Commission, our major accreditation organization, requires that all physicians who have been granted privileges at an organization must undergo evaluation of and collect data relating to their performance, to make the decisions of privileging more objective and continuous by that organization. For radiologists, this so-called ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) can be assessed by using the six general core competencies. These competencies were initially developed for graduate medical education and defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and have now been expanded to provide a general framework for defining categories of data to be collected in assessing the performance of practicing radiologists. Within each core competency, various radiology-relevant metrics exist that can be measured to fulfill the OPPE requirements. Each radiology department can determine the specific type of data to be collected, including determining what items are defined as acceptable performance metrics, what data or outcomes require further monitoring, and what specific data or data trends would trigger the need for an additional focused and more thorough professional practice evaluation, also known as a focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE). RSNA, 2018.