Factors Affecting Variability of Radiologists (FAVOR)

A collaborative effort among several Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) sites, the FAVOR study was developed as a means to improve community mammography performance. Now in its second funding phase, the study progresses towards this goal by understanding sources of interpretive variability and through the development of an intervention designed to reduce variability and improve accuracy. Specifically, the study’s three main objectives are to estimate the accuracy of mammography and better understand reasons for variability, obtain a better understanding of radiologist-level characteristics associated with interpretive performance, and evaluate the feasibility and ultimate impact of an interactive web-based educational intervention and a new audit reporting system on radiologists’ interpretive performance and their understanding of and ability to monitor personal interpretive performance. Ultimately, the FAVOR study is intended to provide community radiologists with the opportunity to closely examine variability within their diagnostic performance, understand the sources of that variability, and identify ways to enhance their diagnostic performance.

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