Reducing Inappropriate Lumbar Spine MRI for Low Back Pain: Radiology Support, Communication and Alignment Network

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of educational sessions on reducing lumbar spine MRI inappropriateness for uncomplicated low back pain and to present our institutional experience on the use of ACR's Radiology Support, Communication and Alignment Network (R-SCAN) program toward achieving appropriateness.

Methods: The R-SCAN web portal was accessed to register a project. Using order entry data, the number of lumbar spine MRI orders placed per month at three family medicine clinics was assessed over a 10-month period. After educational presentations were given at those three clinics highlighting the American College of Physicians and Choosing Wisely campaign imaging guidelines, the number of MRI orders placed was reassessed over an additional 10 months. For a subset of these exams, the ACR Appropriateness Criteria rating of the lumbar spine MRIs were compared between the pre- and posteducation periods. A P value < .05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The average number of monthly MRIs ordered from all three clinics combined was 6.3 during the posteducation period, which was significantly less than during the pre-education period of 10.0 (P = .009). The combined average ACR Appropriateness Criteria rating made at all three clinics was 5.8 after educational sessions, which was significantly higher than the rating of 4.7 before educational sessions (P = .014).

Conclusion: Clinician education, facilitated by R-SCAN, resulted in a reduced number of MRI lumbar spine studies performed for uncomplicated low back pain and improved appropriateness of those studies as measured by the ACR Appropriateness Criteria rating.