Use of Radiology Data Mining Tool Reduces Length of Stay for CT Biopsy

Use of a data and analysis tool allows radiology clinical coordinators to facilitate a patient-centered imaging service, acting as a care manager for patients with positive findings on their computed tomography (CT) scans.

Syed F. Zaidi, MD, president of Radiology Associates of Canton (RAC; OH, USA) and chief executive officer of RadHelp, LLC (Canton, OH, USA) announced that his group, along with hospital personnel at Aultman Hospital (Canton, OH, USA), has reduced patient length of stay (LOS) by three days for inpatients recommended for CT biopsy. Dr. Zaidi presented these findings at the inaugural Montage User Group meeting at the University City Science Center (Philadelphia, PA, USA) in November 2014. Using Montage (Philadelphia, PA, USA) Search and Analytics systems, key performance indicators (KPIs) were found and patients were identified and tracked to assure timely and appropriate follow-up care. Use of these data and analysis tool allows a radiology clinical coordinator to facilitate a patient-centered imaging service, acting as a care manager for patients with positive findings on their CT examinations.

“We have entered into a co-management arrangement with Aultman Hospital through formal shared governance of the imaging service line,” said Dr. Zaidi. “Central to this arrangement is a focus on the patient and we’ve jointly developed and agreed on the performance metrics for the radiology department and the radiologists that contribute to patient-centric care.”

RAC serves Aultman Hospital and a residency program as well as three community hospitals and offsite locations with 25 radiologists performing 550,000 yearly procedures. “We feel strongly that our patient-centered radiology and co-management model adds significant measurable and lasting value to the healthcare delivery value chain and fits in well with the American College of Radiology Imaging 3.0 initiative,” commented Dr. Zaidi.

Radiology’s contribution to the reduction in LOS for these patients is manifested in a reduced time of diagnosis to biopsy procedure order from 71 to 29 hours; order to biopsy completion from 52 to 21 hours, and overall diagnosis to completion of procedure from 133 to 50 hours. They are now using Montage Search and Analytics’ capabilities for data mining and analysis to optimize non-displaced hip fracture assessment in the elderly, osteoporotic patient population and analysis of CT angiography for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in the emergency department (ED).

“I feel RAC’s and RadHelp’s use of data mining and analysis is a powerful demonstration of the opportunities for radiologists to demonstrate and quantify their value in care delivery,” said William Boonn MD, president of Montage Healthcare Solutions, Inc. “It’s an equally powerful demonstration of how increased value becomes a competitive differentiator.”

The radiology community is facing many challenges and must adopt tools that facilitate the transition from volume-based to value-based imaging. To fulfill the Imaging 3.0 imperative, radiologists must address productivity demands while simultaneously adding clinical value to patient care. Montage Healthcare Solutions developed the Montage Search and Analytics tool, which provides the radiology productivity, quality, and safety improvement tools that the company spokespersons stated will be key for ongoing success. Meaningful and actionable quality, outcomes, patient safety and productivity understanding can be extracted from the unstructured radiology narrative in your radiology information system (RIS) and electronic medical record (EMR). Complex clinical quality questions can be easily answered, while the customizable analytics tools speed assessment of business performance and clinical quality. The derived intelligence enables competitive dominance through superior services and enhanced revenue, while enabling radiologists to be appreciated as valued participants in improved care delivery.

RadHelp, LLC was established to provide assistance to radiology groups, private clinics and health care systems with the development of new radiology strategies in the changing health care landscape, particularly in line with the ACR initiative of Imaging 3.0. These strategies include risk based co-management strategies, radiology population health management, utilization management, and physician and employee engagement services. Dr. Syed Zaidi has been nationally recognized as an innovator in radiology co-management services and a pioneer in radiology population management strategies; as well as a leader in implementing Imaging 3.0. RadHelp combines clinical innovation, information systems, and business acumen to create an environment transforming volume to value in radiology.

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