Real-time Analytics Solution Helps VCU Health Provide Timely and Efficient Care

Radiology departments generate a wealth of data, but often lack the business intelligence tools they need to access and use that data. Medical imaging analytics can help radiologists make informed decisions in real time.

At VCU Health in Richmond, Va., the radiology department aims to provide timely, quality patient care. To increase efficiency, department director Sharon Gibbs sought a single analytics solution that would help her define, analyze, and track the metrics and quality needs of her large care providing team, which includes over 200 technologists and more than 40 faculty radiologists.

“One of the primary challenges was that our data was spread across multiple, disparate systems,” said Gibbs. She hoped to reduce the time she was spending on generating reports and have access to a tool that would help her make quick, data-driven business decisions.

Partnering to Build a Real-time Analytics Solution for Radiology Departments

In search of data access and greater efficiency, Gibbs sought to implement a real-time analytics solution that delivered data visually and accurately. Instead of a generic analytics solution, she wanted a solution that focused specifically on radiology data. “The ability to use customized analytics tools designed for radiology was very desirable for us,” said Gibbs.

The VCU Health department of radiology chose to partner with Change Healthcare to help develop a brand-new solution, Change Healthcare Imaging Analytics for Radiology™.

“We liked the idea of building a product with speed and utility in mind, a product that was custom designed for radiology data, as opposed to some of the other solutions that were very broad,” said Gibbs.

Unlocking Business Improvement Opportunities

Over a period of nine months, Gibbs and her team at VCU Health worked with Change Healthcare to develop many of the tools and customizable features built into the new solution. “The programmers listened to our needs and then worked with us to develop features that met them,” said Gibbs.

One such feature was turnaround time analysis, which allows the user to drill down to each technologist or radiologist and analyze performance through different steps of the imaging cycle.

“With turnaround time analysis, I can examine a particular area where we are having an issue,” said Gibbs. “Within minutes, I can log in and look at individual turnaround times and find any barriers with that clinician. This is very useful in managing performance and setting benchmarks for improvement.”

Delivering Business Outcomes that Matter

Today, many of the managers at VCU Health have undergone training on Change Healthcare Imaging Analytics for Radiology. “We have expanded the group of users from just the three of us to about 15 or so,” said Gibbs.

Before the advent of Imaging Analytics for Radiology, her team spent valuable time collecting data that wasn’t presented in a user-friendly or visual way. Now, they can quickly access the data they need and understand it more easily.

For Gibbs, the qualitative benefits have been apparent as well. “We used Imaging Analytics for Radiology to look at ED volumes to quickly make assessments. Being able to use that data to see the peak times across many months was incredible,” said Gibbs.

The team was even able to revamp its transportation staffing around the data it obtained. “Our productivity related to the number of transports per FTE per hours more than doubled, and slightly beat the national benchmark of 2.7 transports per FTE per hour, said Gibbs. “We could not have achieved these results without adding resources. This was a big win for us.”

By focusing on radiology data rather than a generic analytics solution, VCU Health has been able to:

• Improve turnaround times by finding barriers with specific clinicians
• Assess ED volumes across many months
• Improve performance management and benchmark goal setting
• Access critical modality utilization data to make better business decisions

Focusing on the Future of Imaging Analytics

VCU Health continues to work with Change Healthcare on developing new functionality for the Imaging Analytics for Radiology solution. The team is especially excited about using the Real-time Dashboard to see which studies are stuck in a certain part of the imaging cycle.

Change Healthcare is also working with VCU Health to:

• Build out abilities beyond the department to access data across the enterprise
• Enhance the cloud platform with API-level functionality to improve enterprise flexibility
• Implement machine learning algorithms to predict future trends

“Our partnership with Change Healthcare has been an outstanding experience to date,” concluded Gibbs. “As large as it is, the company feels like a small company to work with, because of the very rapid implementation of new ideas.”

Learn how Change Healthcare Imaging Analytics for Radiology can help Radiology Directors and Imaging Administrators make fast, data-driven decisions.