Information Gleaned from Performance Data Shown to Drive Radiologist Productivity

Radiologists’ productivity soars by nearly a third when actionable performance data are provided, according to a recent marketing research.

The use of open and data-driven analytics increased radiologists’ productivity by 31%. This surge in performance was achieved with increased group satisfaction and without additional work hours.

In a talk titled “Analytics and Radiologists: Opportunities and Challenges,” presented at the Montage User Group Meeting, on October 10, 2014, held at the University City Science Center (Philadelphia, PA, USA), Patrick Browning, MA, MD, chief emeritus of the division of medical imaging at Sutter Health (Sacramento, CA, USA), stated that administrators have traditionally been the primary users of data analytics and that radiologists have typically expressed a wariness regarding performance metrics. To overcome these concerns, Dr. Browning recognized that the data must not only be accurate, but also actionable and accessible. “It is necessary to turn data into information,” stated Dr. Browning. “Montage Search and Analytics provided us with access to the underlying information in the data.”

Working with the radiologists in the group in an iterative and ongoing way, Montage Healthcare Solutions (Philadelphia, PA, USA) developed an action plan that assured information was accessible and assessable. Within eight days of providing metrics to the radiologists, increase in productivity was attained. Encouraged by the data, radiologists were taking increased ownership of their individual as well as group performance.

“The results obtained by Dr. Browning demonstrate clear return on investment in providing access to actionable performance metrics,” said William Boonn, MD, president of Montage Healthcare Solutions. “Once the tools are in place to access and visualize your data, opportunities for performance improvements become clearly evident. In today’s evolving healthcare environment, data-driven management is critical in providing competitive advantages in the marketplace while providing the highest quality of care to patients.”

The radiology community is facing many challenges and must embrace tools that facilitate the transition from volume-based to value-based imaging. To succeed and fulfill the American College of Radiology’s (Reston, VA, USA) Imaging 3.0 imperative, radiologists must tackle productivity mandates while simultaneously adding clinical value to patient care. Montage Healthcare Solutions developed Monatage Search and Analytics tool, which provides the radiology productivity, quality, and safety improvement tools that will be crucial for ongoing success. Meaningful and actionable quality, outcomes, patient safety, and productivity understanding can be extracted from the unstructured radiology narrative in radiology information systems (RIS) and electronic medical records (EMR).

Using the tool, complicated clinical quality questions can be easily answered, while the customizable analytics tools speed evaluation of business performance and clinical quality. The derived intelligence enables competitive dominance through superior services and enhanced revenue, while enabling radiologists to be appreciated as valued participants in improved care delivery.

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