Medical Imaging of the Future (and Today)
In the healthcare environment with so many different departments, accountability can be a tough subject. As the landscape shifts from volume based to value based care payment models, there is an added level of pressure of responsibility. How will these affect medical imaging?
The first step is ensuring that the image value chain, regardless of who is responsible for it, is managed well. There will be margin and value to gain from a well-managed image value chain, which can lead to more growth for the enterprise, said one expert on the subject at a recent International Society for Computed Tomography Symposium.
The switch from volume to value made a significant shift under President Obama, but the current administration is looking at the opposite point of view, and they have support in this area. According to a 2016 study by Deloitte, 79 percent of physicians don’t support tying compensation to quality.
However, when it comes to radiology, people within that department are actually drivers of value-based care. In fact, the American College of Radiology’s imaging 3.0 program drives home the fact that the value chain should be under that department’s purview.
However, when you consider the radiology department’s non-interpretive tasks, not many of them occur within the department. Still, radiologists need to take part in their hospital’s integrated practice units. One physician at the symposium highlighted that radiology needs to “push forward with value-based care and ask permission later.”
Radiology departments face a number of challenges today, especially in providing accountability with workflow. Remote medical imaging is a process where the exam is sent out, but not always efficiently. There is no track record of what’s happening with it and there is no way to inform anyone that some exams require a faster turn-around time because their priority level suddenly changed.
Thanks to advancements in teleradiology, volume and value don’t have to clash. Medical imaging can be sent out and every move along the way is monitored and reported back to the department that sent it out. Should the priority level change, that can be addressed and the worklist can be altered accordingly.
Thanks to cloud-based computing, many advantages that weren’t available before are now being realized, and it’s helping to address the value chain issue.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we’re committed to offering industry-leading solutions for medical imaging, which offers greater accountability and more insights into workflow management, inside and outside of the radiology department. Contact us today and let’s talk about how our cloud-based solutions can assist you in your value or volume-based platform.