Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/610563
39 Executive Briefing Q: What role does radiology play in misdiagnoses in health- care and beyond? BL: I think it plays a very significant role. Certainly, diagnos- tic imaging is one of the principle areas that physicians use to diagnose illness and determine treatment. So I think diagnostic imaging plays an incredibly important and significant role. AW: There are five ways to make a diagnosis: history, physical exam, testing (like radiology, blood tests, EMGs, etc.), treat to see if they get better, and wait and see if the diagnosis gets better. Unfortunately, radiology is an area ripe for misdiag- noses. Q: How important is subspecialty radiology to you and your organization, and why is it important? BL: I believe subspecialty radiology is important because it allows us to access physicians who have specialized training in given areas, and I believe these radiologists are capable of providing higher quality results by specialty than the general radiology community. The two most visible subspecialists are in the areas of neuroradiology and mammography. It's not that there aren't other subspecialty radiologists, but those two are typically used as examples of how subspecialty radiology might be superior to general radiology. AW: If you ask a pediatric radiologist to read an adult exam versus reading a pediatric exam, I think the results will be significantly different. Someone who is an expert in jewelry to look at some other type of craft, they don't know the business as well. You need to have a certain comfort level. Subspecialty radiology is very important. We treat a lot of patients in neurological radiology and pediatrics, which require more of a specialty. Q: What would the ideal radiology service look like for your organization? BL: It would be a combination of subspecialty radiologists reading the studies that are associated with their subspecialties and the availability of highly skilled interventional radiologists on-site to meet the demand imposed by the need for interven- tional radiologist procedures. AW: It would have a high level of accuracy, rapid re- sponse, excellent communication among the clinicians and an expertise to help us do better in the long term. Q: What advice would you give to other hospital executives when it comes to building a radiology service? BL: Well, I think what we're looking for as hospital CEOs — in terms of diagnostic imaging — is a balance that will provide us with the subspecialty resources that we need to achieve high levels of quality, as well as the availability of local interven- tional resources to meet the 24/7 demand associated with that unique need. The thing that really sticks in my mind about my experience with subspecialty radiology is that Sheridan is the first imaging provider to generate ongoing quality data associated with the correct interpretation of findings. Throughout my career I've dealt with any number of radiology providers, but this is the first time a provider has come to me with an evaluation of the quality of the work they are producing. I get reports quarterly about the level of errors they're encountering with the interpretations that they do. In the beginning, they had error rates that were already low, and over a period of five years, they've driven error rates down to 1 per- cent. I've been very impressed. AW: I would carefully look at their quality assurance program — that includes the number of overall reads, consis- tency and the time it takes to get a report done. We want quick results, since we have pressure around length of stay, and accuracy for the patients' well-being. In the future, we are going to do more and more subspe- cialty radiology with telecommunications. The Internet is the perfect use of that tool. n Founded in 2001, Radisphere is the leading provider of radiology enterprise management solutions, serving over 100 hospi- tals in 28 states. Radisphere has integrated the industry's most stringent performance standards into our care model. We hold our radiology services accountable to diagnostic accuracy, appropriate utilization and service level excellence; we also enable system-wide accountability to these standards through our radiology enterprise management solution. We use cloud-based workflow management technology with advanced routing logic and 24x7 care management services to connect the hospitals and radiology groups across a system. As a result, health systems across the nation are able to reduce clinical variation across their hospitals and deliver higher quality and lower cost care. Sponsored by: