Medical imaging devices generate large digitized datasets, offering ample scope for innovation. ML and AI can streamline workflow, prioritize scans that require immediate attention, and increase efficiency.
Patients are sick of waiting for their diagnoses, and radiologists need to find ways to make their services more patient-centered. Here are seven ways to do just that.
Improved Patient Care
A growing number of patients are demanding a more convenient healthcare experience. They want to be able to get their results quickly and efficiently, have access to information about their health, and work with medical professionals who are responsive to their questions. Fortunately, technology is playing an increasingly important role in addressing these demands and improving patient care.
The use of AI in radiology has many benefits for both clinicians and patients. It can help speed up the diagnosis process, improve image quality, and reduce radiation exposure. It can also simplify report generation and enhance diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, it can automate tedious tasks such as data entry and quality control. This frees up time for radiologists to focus on more complex cases and provide better care.
In addition, the use of AI can provide additional patient support by helping them understand their results. It can also provide a personalized treatment plan based on a patient’s unique medical history and response to medication. This can lead to better outcomes and fewer complications.
Interventional radiology is another area where the use of AI can benefit patients. This type of procedure involves using x-rays or ultrasound to guide doctors during procedures such as draining an infection or removing a blood clot. It can help patients avoid surgery and improve their outcomes.
A recent study found that clinicians regarded radiology as high-value care and believe that it will remain necessary in the future. However, it is essential that radiologists continue to build soft skills such as active listening and demonstrating empathy when communicating with patients. In addition, they must be able to convey bad news with compassion and respect.
Better Patient Outcomes
There is a growing emphasis on achieving better patient outcomes. GE HealthCare is helping radiology professionals achieve these goals by providing tools that streamline workflows and optimize productivity. These tools are designed to improve patient care while reducing costs.
A major aspect of improving patient outcomes is ensuring that patients understand their results. This can be achieved by providing them with a clear and concise report that includes the details of their imaging studies. This allows them to make an informed decision about their treatment. In addition, it can also help reduce the number of follow-up appointments they need to attend.
Radiology is a core component of healthcare, and its services play a vital role in patient care. However, not all healthcare organisations recognise or value this contribution. This has implications for resourcing and reimbursement of medical services. In particular, it may result in the under-resourcing of some key specialist departments.
As a result, there are growing calls for healthcare systems to move away from a volume-driven model toward one that focuses on value. This is a complex and challenging task, but it is essential if we are to make a step change in patient outcomes.
In order to support the transition to a value-based healthcare system, there is a need for radiology to demonstrate its contribution to patient outcomes. This can be done by ensuring that radiology departments operate as teams, so that they are able to ensure that enterprise-wide standards are met and that cross-cover and resourcing is freely available. It can also be done by promoting a culture of constant quality monitoring and fostering collaboration with referring clinicians to ensure that imaging requests are appropriate and relevant.
Increased Efficiency
When it comes to improving efficiency, radiologists can utilize the power of AI to streamline the process. This will make it much easier for them to provide patients with high-quality care and ensure that they have all the information necessary to make a diagnosis. Using AI can also help them detect errors more quickly and ensure that the right reports are going to the correct people.
The healthcare industry is facing increasing pressure to deliver high-value services while minimizing waste. This has led to a number of challenges, including cuts in healthcare reimbursements and a shortage of skilled personnel. Additionally, many healthcare organizations have struggled to find ways to reduce the cost of low-value interventions.
Achieving efficiencies in radiology can help improve patient outcomes and increase the overall value of the service. Despite these challenges, many radiologists remain optimistic about the future of their profession and believe that technology can offer important benefits.
In fact, many radiologists have begun to embrace AI and see it as an opportunity to enhance their workflows and improve productivity. One way to do this is by implementing an artificial intelligence platform that can automate repetitive tasks and assist with more complex ones. This can free up valuable time for radiologists to spend on more complex cases.
Moreover, the use of AI is expected to help radiologists achieve higher standards of care by streamlining the diagnostic process and providing access to more complex data. Molecular imaging and genomics are two areas of radiology that have seen significant developments in recent years, allowing physicians to study biological processes at a cellular level and identify diseases at the earliest stage.
Interestingly, a survey of 121 clinicians found that most did not expect AI to make diagnostic radiologists redundant in the foreseeable future. In fact, they agreed that the technology would support rather than replace them. However, they did note that they will need to prepare for a changing landscape in which the roles of pathology, nuclear medicine and clinical genetics or laboratory medicine are combined in common diagnostic departments.
Better Patient Experience
The rapid technological advancements in healthcare are allowing the industry to reimagine patient experiences. The technology is changing the way we deliver care, and how we communicate with patients. More tech-driven Patient Care aims to improve the overall experience of a person visiting a hospital or clinic.
For instance, the use of AI to automate repetitive tasks like reading medical images and generating reports can help free up radiologists’ time so they can focus on more challenging cases. Moreover, using advanced technologies such as molecular imaging will allow physicians to study a patient’s health at a cellular and molecular level improving diagnostic capabilities. This will make it easier for doctors to identify disease and develop personalized treatment plans.
As a result, patient outcomes will be improved, while the medical staff will have more time to devote to more personal and complex cases. Similarly, the use of wearables and AI to monitor and manage patients’ health will increase efficiency and accuracy. Eventually, this will lead to more personalized and proactive healthcare that is based on evidence-based practices and patient feedback.
Another example of this is the use of AI to improve communication with patients. The latest applications allow radiologists to directly communicate with patients through digital patient portals. In addition, radiologists can answer questions regarding imaging results and provide detailed explanations of complex findings. This helps to improve the quality of patient care and alleviate pressure on referring clinicians to do so.
The introduction of AI tools is a welcome development for many radiologists. However, some healthcare stakeholders doubt whether these technologies can replace human doctors in the diagnosis process. This is based on the assumption that radiologists’ role is limited to image analysis only, without taking into account the many multidisciplinary and patient-related consulting tasks for which they are solicited. It is therefore crucial for the radiologic community to emphasise their value in this context when discussing their concerns with non-medical stakeholders in healthcare.
Reduced Costs
Radiology is a minor contributor to health care costs, but the specialty faces considerable reimbursement pressure from Medicare and private payers. That’s why cost reduction strategies must be implemented carefully, so that radiology departments do not cut corners that negatively impact patient outcomes.
For example, reducing costs through workflow automation tools can help radiology departments align management, standardize processes, and deliver quality results without increasing workloads for clinicians. This helps ensure that patients get the services they need in a timely manner and reduces unnecessary imaging, which can decrease overall costs.
Another key tool for reducing radiology costs is to increase transparency with primary care providers through imaging utilization data. A 29-practice network in North Carolina, for example, has seen significant and sustained savings in imaging rates by giving its primary care providers monthly peer-comparison reports of CT scan utilization, researchers reported in JACR on March 19.
However, reducing costs through these types of technology solutions does not mean that radiology needs to sacrifice quality or patient outcomes. It simply means that facilities must embrace new ways of doing business and equip their radiologists with tools that allow them to focus on patient care instead of administrative tasks.
For example, AI solutions can quickly flag critical cases in a radiology department, such as pneumonia, and alert medical professionals in real time. This can save lives and minimize the need for costly interventions. Similarly, intraoperative MRIs can help surgeons more precisely visualize the tumor size, type, and malignancy before cutting through it, which can improve surgical accuracy and decrease complications like nerve damage. This can also lead to lower future costs by avoiding unnecessary reoperations and radiation exposure.
