Elizabeth Bergey, MD, a diagnostic radiologist at Quantum, chairman of Quantum’s Board of Directors, President of the physician group, and CEO of the professional corporation, explained how the radiology group orchestrates its work lists for load balancing. She spoke on this topic in sessions at the 2022 Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) meeting.
She explains how technology can be leveraged to help with radiology management issues. These include radiologists cherry picking studies and its impact on relative value units (RVUs) for all the radiologists on the team. Bergey said the workflow orchestration system her company uses looks at time spent reading studies instead of the number of studies read for more of an apples-to-apples comparison on the complexity of studies.
She noted that radiologist burn out can sometimes be related to the workflow and how well the reading lists are managed and the workloads balanced.
Orchestration software, which is often driven by artificial intelligence (AI), is now offered by several PACS and enterprise imaging system vendors. These systems evaluate the type of exam, whether it is a STAT read, the subspecialty involved, the estimated time to read each study based on several factors and time limits to read certain studies based on service level agreements (SLA). The software, or the "brain" as Bergey refers to it, then organizes the work list to set up what needs to be read with the most important or time expiration nearing exams at the top. Some of these systems also organize the list tailored for each, specific radiologist, based on their specialty qualifications and to balance the list with a mix of easy and more complex exams.
Bergey said the analytics these systems produce also are helpful in practice management to see what each radiologist is reading and the time it takes them to read different types of exams. The analytics also can show real-world statistics on the tike involved to read certain types of exams or all the studies from a specific hospital or clinic, which can help in future negotiations of SLAs, or for better estimates of staffing needs and when to call in additional help.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com