Walmart Joins New Radiology Data Quality Program

The national retailer is the first large employer to join the Quality Care Collaborative, which supports quality improvement in radiology services.

Walmart has announced it will take part in a new program aimed at improving the quality of radiology services and advancing value-based care initiatives.

The program, known as the Quality Care Collaborative (QCC), is the first national program to bring together payers, providers, and self-insured employers to improve the quality of radiology at scale, according to sponsoring companies Covera Health and Nuance Communications. It's supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

"The Quality Care Collaborative is a great example of the unique impact that we and our provider clients can have on patient care by leveraging our Precision Imaging Network and the nationwide scale we have in radiology," Peter Durlach, Chief Strategy Officer at Nuance Communications, said in a press release. "This is an AHRQ certified patient safety program that can provide radiologists at their own discretion with additional AI-powered quality insights in their native workflows to help them continue to deliver the highest level of patient care, help combat the commoditization of radiology, all while knowing that their data is protected."

"We're excited about the collaboration between Covera and Nuance and the positive impact it can have on improving the quality of care for all, as well as improving health equity by increasing access to quality care in local communities," added Lisa Woods, Walmart's vice president for physical and emotional well-being.

Clinicians may share data with and receive insights from the QCC to improve care quality in a safe and trusted environment. The platform protects patient data against discovery and restricts any sharing with payers. Any radiology practices in participating payers' networks can opt-in to the QCC for no cost to access quality analytics and clinically validated AI tools to augment existing quality improvement programs. Participating payers and self-insured employers are offered improved quality and better outcomes for their member populations.