By Barbara Dumery
As we say "so long" to 2012 and welcome in 2013, I thought
it was only appropriate that we start thinking about our resolutions for the
New Year. While my personal resolutions will be focused around spending more
time with my family, going to bed before midnight and waking up early and
exercising (see #2), there are also resolutions that we as an industry should
be aligning with to help support radiology in the move from fee-for-service to
a value-based reimbursement model. Some of those 2013 resolutions or
‘initiatives’ should include:
Orient yourself
to the downstream benefits – A radiologist’s worth is determined by the
quality
of information and the time-savings that information provides within the
continuum of the larger patient care cycle. For this reason, radiologists must
focus on creating reports that offer actionable information in a timely
fashion. Technologies like templates and speech recognition can help
radiologists arm referring physicians with the information they need to provide
quality and efficient patient care.
Provide
patient-centric service – Due to the shift to Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs), a patient choosing to get their services elsewhere will
have a significant impact on costs for that ACO. To ensure that patients choose
to stay within their ACO provider organizations, imaging centers will need to
provide more patient-centric services, such as more accommodating facilities (
almost
spa-like) and patient portals for things like easy and convenient
scheduling, and faster results (with the opportunity for the patient to ask
questions).
Get real on
radiation dose exposure – Whether you’re in a state where regulation
requires your facility to include the patient’s radiation dose exposure in the
report or not, the effects of over exposure are real and need to be managed. Start
looking at what is being done in
California
and find ways to implement those practices into your own facilities. Learn what
radiation dose management solutions they are using and determine which ones
will best support your existing radiology reporting workflow – seamless
integration is key.
Learn about
ICD-10 impact – The U.S. healthcare system will be transitioning to ICD-10
in October 2014 and with these new codes, the amount of information required to
properly document care in order to be appropriately reimbursed increases
dramatically. Imaging facilities will have to acquire a much greater history
for a patient when scheduling an exam for the purposes of precertification, dictation,
and subsequent billing. Radiologists must also be much more specific and
detailed in their documentation.
Do you
have some additional resolutions for the radiology industry? Share them in the
comments section below.
Professional
Biography:
Barbara Dumery is the Director of
Diagnostics Solutions Marketing at Nuance Communications. She joined Nuance in
2006 and has over 15 years of experience in healthcare IT. Nuance Healthcare is
the market leader in providing clinical understanding solutions that accurately
capture and transform the patient story into meaningful, actionable
information. Prior to joining Nuance, Barbara was the Senior Product Manager at
eMed Technologies. She graduated from Tufts University in ’95 with a BSEE in
Electrical Engineering and in ’97 with an MSEE in Electrical Engineering,
Biomedical Engineering.