Large hospital system implements radiology AI tool across its entire network
A large hospital network has officially deployed artificial intelligence tools across each of its campuses.
St. Luke’s University Health Network, which operates 16 hospitals and over 300 off campus clinics across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, announced this week that AI has been implemented in each of its emergency departments and all of its CareNow urgent care clinics. Each location now has access to Gleamer’s BoneView AI tool.
BoneView assists radiologists and other providers in detecting bone fractures. In clinical trials, it was shown to reduce instances of missed fractures by up to 30%. What’s more, the tool shaves an average of 6.3 seconds per read, and improves fracture detection in pediatric patients, which can be challenging. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March of 2022.
At that time, one of the radiologists who helped lead clinical trials involving BoneView expressed optimism for how the tool could help improve workflows.
"Radiologists' workload has doubled in the past two decades, and despite technological progress, they must analyze hundreds more images every day, requiring the readings to be highly reliable," Ali Guermazi, MD, chief of radiology at VA Boston Healthcare System, said in a news release. "The assistance of AI should allow us to improve the specificity of the complementary exams prescribed after the radiography, to avoid delays in care, and to direct patients into the right therapeutic pathway.”
St. Luke’s Chairman, Robert Fournier, MD, recently shared similar sentiments.
“St. Luke’s is committed to advancing patient care through investments in artificial intelligence for medical imaging,” Fournier said. “By integrating AI into diagnostic imaging workflows, St. Luke’s enhances the accuracy, speed and consistency of image interpretation. This enables quicker and potentially more precise diagnoses while also improving overall efficiency.”
“It’s like having a helpful second set of eyes when reviewing X-ray images,” St. Luke’s Chair of Emergency Medicine Rebecca Pequeno, MD, added.
The health system first started integrating AI into its radiology workflows seven years ago. The implementation of BoneView, however, represents the first systemwide introduction of AI. The move further highlights the growing trend of organizations turning to AI to help address some of healthcare's pressing issues related to workflow hiccups, imaging backlogs and staffing shortages.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.