Healthcare is the last bastion for many technologies of yesteryear. Fax machines, pagers, compact discs (CDs), clipboards, printed educational materials, and only offering a phone number to book an appointment remain prevalent in healthcare despite having been all but phased out in other industries.
Many of the speakers at conferences last year pleaded with audiences to put more effort into adopting modern approaches to better solve healthcare’s challenges – like patient experience, interoperability, administrative burden, and improved outcomes.
At the 2024 RSNA annual conference (RSNA24), this message was loud and clear. A panel of experts, hosted by PocketHealth, spoke about need to rethink and replace legacy technologies as well as approaches to sharing images between patients, physicians, providers, and payers (also referred to as image exchange). They argued that by doing so, patient access, administrative burden and patient engagement would improve.
The panel featured:
- Stacie Barnard – Director, Enterprise Imaging Informatics & Integrated Clinical Systems at University of Rochester Medical Center
- Fernando Martín, PhD, MBA, CHCIO – Sr. Director Architecture, DevOps and AI technologies at WellSpan Health
- Ram Chadalavada – Vice Chair of Radiology and Associate Professor of Radiology (VIR) & Surgery at University of Cincinnati / UC Health (also Chief Medical Officer at PocketHealth)
- Rishi Nayyar – Co-Founder & CEO at PocketHealth
Eye-Popping Imaging Statistics
Nayyar kicked off the panel with an eye-popping statistic:
A whopping 80% of providers are still using CDs to share images! The gasp from the radiology audience was audible.
Nayyar and the panelists used this statistic to emphasize the magnitude of the opportunity to share images in a more modern, secure, and efficient manner rather than with this 40-year-old medium.
Barnard and Martín both offered stories from their respective organizations on how transformative it was for staff and patients to have a completely electronic way to send and receive their images. Patients loved not being the transport mule for CDs anymore and clinicians/staff were grateful not having to go to the handful of workstations that still had CD readers to manually upload the images to their EHR.
With solutions, like the one offered by PocketHealth, images and associated information can be transmitted directly and securely from the provider to the recipient. No more manual steps or physical storage mediums. Not only does this relieve administrative burden, it also improves patient experience.
Chadalavada put it best when he said:
“I want to meet patients in a way that is convenient for them. Providing tech to enable that is important.” Ram Chadalavada University of Cincinnati #RSNA24 @pockethealth.bsky.social
— Colin Hung (@colinhung.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Martín went further and added that healthcare leaders should not be fooled into thinking that a patient that is forced to stick with you is loyal.
“There is a misguided operating theory that if you raise enough barriers, patients won’t leave you. That’s just not true. Patients stay with providers who care and who make things easy & seamless” Fernando Martin Wellspan #RSNA24 #HealthIT #radiology #HITsm cc @pockethealth.bsky.social
— Colin Hung (@colinhung.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 1:28 PM
What Martín did was eloquently tie image interoperability and patient experience together in a visceral way. When we speak about interoperability, it can become an abstract concept when we discuss pixels and petabytes. However, when we talk about the consequences of a lack of interoperability – forcing patients to carry printouts of their records or CDs of their images – it makes the problem very tangible.
Addressing Image Follow-up
One of the other shocking statistics shared by Nayyar was that 60% of recommended imaging is not followed up. This represents significant healthcare waste.
Just think of all the physician time that was used to determine a scan is needed, only to never have it performed! There is also the potential downstream impact – would the patient have avoided a more costly health issue had someone on their care team nudged them to get the scan?
To address this issue, Chadalavada suggested that providers should master the art of nudging:
“The art of nudging is something healthcare needs to learn. It is very important for patients and providers” Ram Chadalavada University of Cincinnati. #RSNA24 #HealthIT #radiology #HITsm
— Colin Hung (@colinhung.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 1:40 PM
This sentiment was echoed by Martín who shared how WellSpan has invested in being more proactive with patient follow-up.
“We are getting proactive with patient followup” Fernando Martin Wellspan. Love this statement. Patient engagement does not just “happen”. It takes both parties to take action and meet in the middle. Healthcare is not a spectator sport. #RSNA24 @pockethealth.bsky.social
— Colin Hung (@colinhung.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 1:47 PM
According to Nayyar sharing medical imaging results with patients as soon as they’re available and equipping them with the right tools to make sense of those results, reduces anxiety and keeps them engaged in their care. This can lead to a higher likelihood of following the recommendations of clinicians.
Radiologists can Help by Changing Their Vocabulary
During the panel, Barnard made an astute observation about the language radiologists use and how it perpetuates the need for older technologies, like CDs.
She noted that radiologists often ask patients to “bring a CD of the X-rays/scans that were taken at the other facility”. Radiologists do not actually want a CD and would be equally happy with the images delivered electronically. According to Barnard, however, when patients hear this request, they take it literally, even though the other facility may have a more advanced means of sharing images (like PocketHealth’s platform).
Great advice from Stacie Barnard from @urochester.bsky.social “As radiologists we need to stop asking patients to bring a CD. We equate CD with images. Patients take it literally. JUST ASK FOR THE IMAGES. That will enable electronic exchange” #HealthIT #RSNA24 cc @pockethealth.bsky.social
— Colin Hung (@colinhung.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 1:36 PM
Barnard asked the audience to drop words like “CD” and “fax” from their vocabulary: “Just ask patients to get you a copy of the images or the information you need. Don’t specify how that should happen.”
Benefits of Image Exchange
Throughout the session each panelist offered compelling statements about the benefits of modern seamless image exchange.
- Nayyar pointed out that healthcare organizations should be agnostic – meaning that they should build capabilities to share images electronically with any other provider organization – regardless of the type of system they each use. “Being network-agnostic, means you can exchange images with anyone”
- Barnard and Martín spoke about the reduction in workload when having the right workflows and technologies in place to exchange images electronically
- Chadalavada reminded the audience that when a provider uses modern techniques and technologies that are the norms in other industries (like retail, banking, and travel), it increases patient trust – a valuable commodity as healthcare grows increasingly competitive
Closing Thought
The panel with Barnard, Nayyar, Chadalavada, and Martín was informative and engaging. Each had practical advice for the audience on how they can become more patient-centric, reduce costs, and eliminate unwanted tasks. Eliminating legacy image sharing technology is one way to quickly improve patient experience, reduce staff workload, and improve engagement – all of which leads to improved outcomes.
The panelists were optimistic about 2025 and the potential for healthcare, as a whole, to meaningfully move away from legacy technologies and their associated workflows towards modern convenient technologies, like PocketHealth’s network-agnostic image exchange platform.
Learn more about PocketHealth at https://www.pockethealth.com/
To watch a recording of the panel discussion at RSNA24, visit https://www.pockethealth.com/2024/12/13/achieving-seamless-image-exchange-and-intelligent-patient-engagement/
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