MINNEAPOLIS, MN—(June 11, 2015) Radiology provides critical value in the diagnostic process. However, significant changes in healthcare now require the specialty to think creatively about how to provide additional value beyond interpretation, including transparency into quality and economic performance. Proving value means the difference between being an indispensable partner vs. becoming a cost center to be managed. vRad (Virtual Radiologic), the nation’s leading telemedicine company and radiology practice, believes radiology practices will find it challenging to demonstrate long-term value if radiology is unable—or unwilling—to measure performance using insight derived from the vast amount of available patient and imaging data. Since radiology is a highly digital specialty, with more than 1 billion imaging exams performed each year in the United States, radiology can leverage data in a strategic manner, allowing it to share new insights and become a valued partner with hospitals and health systems in the mission to manage costs while improving quality, care and performance. This is the central theme of vRad’s latest white paper entitled “Become Indispensable to Your Imaging Partners: Creating Strategic Value for Radiology by Developing Partnerships and Offering Insight,” which can be downloaded here.
“Given our size and scale, vRad had to adapt much sooner than many practices, and leveraging data and analytics allowed us to quickly find innovative ways to answer many clinical and operational questions so that we could better serve our clients and become a valued partner,” said Benjamin W. Strong, MD (ABR, ABIM), Chief Medical Officer of vRad. “We are sharing what we learned with the broader radiology specialty so others understand and appreciate how imaging analytics can drive evidence-based discussions with hospital partners and allow radiologists to show value that benefits radiology, patients and the overall practice of medicine. Analytics are no longer an option for radiology, they’re now a requirement.”
The free white paper discusses reasons why radiology has come under higher scrutiny, including declining reimbursements, the move to value-based healthcare models and consolidation. It also outlines why radiology must shift its attention and use imaging data to measure quality, contribute to high-level planning, and find new ways to demonstrate value beyond the reading room. Finally, it offers techniques and suggestions about the best ways to collaborate and align with partners within a health system—from the C-suite and department heads to referring physicians.
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About vRad
vRad (Virtual Radiologic) is a leading outsourced radiology physician services and telemedicine company with over 350 U.S. board-certified and eligible physicians, 75% of whom are subspecialty trained. It is an affiliate of MEDNAX, Inc., a national medical group specializing in neonatal, anesthesia, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology and other pediatric physicians services.
The company interprets over 5 million patient studies annually—and processes over 1.2 billion images on the world’s biggest and most advanced teleradiology PACS—for its 2,100+ client hospital, health system and radiology group facilities. A winner of Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation Award for Medical Imaging Analytics (North America) and a leader in imaging analytics, vRad provides access to the only radiology patient care benchmarking platform (vRad RPCSM Index) with 31 million+ normalized imaging studies, growing at 400,000 per month. vRad’s clinical expertise and evidence-based insight help clients make better decisions for the health of their patients and their imaging services. For more information about the company, please visit www.vrad.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.