Tag: hospitals

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Hospitals Need to Invest More In Radiology IT Support!

radiology IT support

In an environment where hospitals’ profit margins are becoming tighter, what is the most likely area where they can cut costs? Well, it’s undoubtedly not surgery or nursing. That would look not very good for the hospital and drive competitors elsewhere. Could it be hospital beds? No, because that would lead to direct patient complaints and less capacity. Is it the high-tech equipment and hardware? Not usually, because that is a great marketing tool to get doctors to refer patients your way. Instead, unfortunately, the places where a hospital can cut costs are usually the behind-the-scenes. And one of these areas on the chopping block is radiology IT support.

Who cares if the radiologists if a radiologist’s job is more demanding? It doesn’t affect the hospital’s bottom line, right? Does it matter if the radiologists must stay an hour later to deal with PACS crashes, firewall issues, and incompatibility with outside studies? The radiologists need to get their job done anyway for patient care. Well, that philosophy has become commonplace in the world of hospital savings.

In reality, the costs of not supporting a hospital’s information technology are enormous. It decreases efficiency for doctors, patient outcomes, and staff morale. And hospitals certainly do get complaints, albeit on the back end. So, what are the tangible results of having poor IT support, and why should hospitals treat this issue as mission-critical for the system. Let’s delve into the reasons why.

Radiology IT Support Allows For Quicker Turn Around Time

Turnaround time is one of those statistics that hospitals hang their hats on to show that they are efficient. And what is one of the most significant factors in a delayed turnaround time? Well, it’s the radiology study. The time it takes for the patient to have dictated images is widely dependent on having a constantly functioning PACS and dictation system. Patients will have to stick around longer without a functioning IT support system, a money-losing proposition.

Better Patient Treatment

Not having IT support may mean malfunctioning networks and servers for many reasons (decreased bandwidth, storage capacity, etc.). Often, this process results in loss of access to priors. And guess what? As I said in my previous rant on priors, this leads to poorer patient care because of decreased specificity and sensitivity. Or, it can even lead to disastrous outcomes if you can’t process studies like CTAs of the brain. And these are just some horrible outcomes of many!

Increases Morale (Waiting on The Phone)

Want to keep your doctors within the hospital system in a competitive market. Then be sure to support IT. Radiologists, physicians, and nurses are more apt to leave when they notice a constant breakdown of the electronic health records and PACS systems. These nagging factors are a continuous source of reported physician burnout (among others). We should be trying to maintain our physicians, not creating a revolving door!

Increasing Patient Satisfaction Scores

One of those other factors that hospitals love to tout is their patient satisfaction surveys. Hospitals regularly feature positive survey outcomes on billboards and commercials to show that they are competent institutions. Well, guess what? Those scores will not cut the mustard if patients have to stay in-house because no one can access the electronic records!

Saves Hospital Costs

The costs of malfunctioning electronic support systems are substantial. Imagine having to keep your patient for extra days in the department because a lack of support prevents patient discharge. Based on this issue alone, costs skyrocket to thousands of dollars per day for a hospital stay. And this doesn’t account for all the other expenses that a poorly served electronic health records and PACs system entail!

Radiology IT Support Is Not An Option That Hospitals Can Skip!

Although many hospitals would like to skip this “expensive” service to save money, you need the full-time support of a dedicated IT team for better patient care, decreasing hospital costs, and increasing the system’s efficiency. Although not evident on the front end, the downstream effects can be enormous. By not supporting IT, hospitals are merely shooting themselves in the foot. It’s not an option that hospitals can skip!

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Why Can’t Hospitals And Radiologists Just Get Along?​

hospitals

We often hear about radiologist practices and radiologists who cannot seem to get along well with the hospitals with which they work. Perhaps, it is the revenge of the grade C student hospital executive? Maybe, it is the lack of capital intensive resources for the radiologists? Or could it be that some hospitals take every opportunity to cheat radiologists of their next dollar?

Sure, these factors may contribute to a bad experience of working with a hospital. But, I believe that these factors are not the leading causes of conflict. Instead, the answer is simple. Our mission differs sharply with the employers with which we work.

So, how exactly does the primary mission of the employed radiologist or the hospital based radiology group differ from the organization for which they work? And how can we resolve that conflict? Well, these are the topics for today!

Mission Statement For The Employed Radiologist

What is it that radiologists want? Well, let me give you some sentiments from radiologists in the form of some familiar complaints. 

“Constant phone calls are constantly interrupting my workflow.”

“We don’t have enough technologists to keep the workflow going in interventional radiology.”

“The PACs system went down again, and I can’t dictate any cases.”

And finally, of course, “How many times do I have to tell the technologist to complete the study!”

So, what do these complaints have in common? Basically, they are all saying the same thing. Radiologists want seamless workflow. And, if I had to think of the mission statement for a practicing radiologist, it would be, “let me do my work without interruption!

Mission Statement For The Imaging Center/ Hospitals

What about the hospital or imaging center owners? Well, let me give you some of their sentiments in the form of some statements.

“We need to get the SPECT-CT operational so that we can get new patients into the system.”

“Clinicians are continually complaining that radiologists are not getting the reports out in time!”

“We have several obstructionist radiologists that are refusing studies to clinicians. We need to talk to them!”

“The layout of the department is making it impossible for patients to get their tests promptly.”

So, what do these statements from the guys in the executive suite have in common? They all are about the bottom line of the hospital. Or, “how can we maximize revenue for the organization and decrease costs?”

Misalignment Of Mission Statements

Fortunately, most of the time both owners and radiology employees are on the same page. Hospital executives usually want to create a seamless work environment for the radiologist to improve revenues. Likewise, radiologists aim to bring in the most revenue possible for the organization by improving workflow. However, many times these two mission statements will butt heads.

Occasionally, increasing system revenue may mean impeding the workflow of the radiologist. For instance, the hospital sees that picking up the phone while in the midst of a busy rotation makes their clinicians happy. At the same time, it delays the readings of the radiologist. The hospital continues to allow this to happen.

Likewise, increasing efficiency of the radiologists sometimes costs more to the system than doing nothing. Maybe, the reading room is not ergonomic, and the hospital cannot see how the hospital expense will improve the bottom line.

And, herein lies the crux of the problem. How can we reconcile the two missions?

Solving The Employed Radiologist/Owner Misalignment

Both parties need to have skin in the game to solve the misalignment dilemma. Employed radiologists need to have some ownership stake in the operations of the hospital. And just as importantly, owners/managers performance should be tied to improving the seamless workflow of the radiologist. You can’t expect either an employee or a manager to implement changes actively without incentive or experience. In some institutions, minimal incentives exist for these liaisons. Additionally, some managers have little experience with understanding the radiologist’s workflow.

So, how can we allow hospitals and radiologists to have better relationships? Well, we need to align the fundamental misalignments.

First, radiologists should receive some compensation for increasing the revenues and decreasing departmental costs. Tying rewards based on increasing institutional profits make the radiologist more likely to find favor with less radiologist friendly policy but excellent institutional benefit.

Moreover, hospital/practice management should not hire a random secretary within the building at a lower cost to run the business side of the practice. They should find a seasoned business manager who understands the trials and tribulations of the radiologist. How frustrating can it be to have someone who has no clue about radiologist operations?

Additionally, hospitals should tie the business manager to the efficiency of the radiologist practice. How? They can create a reward system not just based on hospital goals, but instead meeting the efficiency goals of the radiologists as well.

Tying The Knot

You cannot expect two groups to be on the same page when some of the most critical goals of each organization differ so widely from one another. Instead, you need to marry the two organizations mission statements into one. Creating a system to align the priorities of both groups should be a top priority. And, hiring the appropriate individuals is critical. Let’s resolve the differences instead of complaining about what both hospitals and the radiologists do wrong!