Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in healthcare imaging for years. But as workflow and process improvements have become top priorities, amid ongoing staffing challenges and declining reimbursement, healthcare organizations are increasingly leveraging AI to increase productivity, improve communication and ease the burden on staff.
In a November webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Viz.ai, panelists from major provider organizations shared how they're using AI to streamline workflows, improve patient outcomes, reduce staff burnout and drive financial improvements. The session, moderated by Viz.ai CEO and co-founder Chris Mansi, MD, included the following panelists:
- Suzie Bash, MD, medical director of neuroradiology at San Fernando Valley Interventional Radiology at RadNet (Los Angeles)
- Andy Draper, PhD, CIO of HCA Continental Division and founder of GreenCIO.org
- Chris Kellner, MD, assistant professor in neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System (New York)
Five key learnings were:
- Healthcare faces challenges on multiple fronts, especially with short staffing and caregiver burnout. "The entire industry is suffering right now from a shortage of staffing," Dr. Draper said. "We are having physicians retire early. We have nurses retiring early, and there's no real change predicted in the next few years." Dr. Bash agreed. In addition to pending Medicare cutbacks, she said, there are challenges keeping knowledgeable radiology technologists on staff. That means workflow efficiency and keeping caregivers happy is more important than ever.
- AI, long used in image diagnosis, offers a solution for providers that fosters communication and prompts faster action. Viz.ai works by ingesting clinical data, such as scans or ECGs, and analyzing the information with AI to predict what might happen next with a patient. "That makes that healthcare data meaningful and allows us to trigger action, whether it's alerting the appropriate specialist, or potentially the research or clinical trial team, allowing them to easily take the next best clinical action," Dr. Mansi said.
Coordination that might have previously taken place through multiple phone calls, and the inevitable phone tag, can instead take place in a second. "There is a great need for streamlined communication," Dr. Bash said.
- That communication capability isn't just a convenience, it leads to better outcomes. "We saw a dramatic decrease in the amount of time it took us to get notified," Dr. Kellner said. "We were notified 15 minutes faster post-Viz.ai era than in the pre-Viz era. When you're dealing with an acute ischemic stroke, that 15 minutes really matters in the patient's outcome."
- Better communication and outcomes means happier caregivers. "As a CIO, one of the things I am sensitive to is, will it work? And will these high-value physicians yell at me?" Dr. Draper said. "And the answer is no. They found it to be useful, immediately deployable and everyone involved in that care team has been very happy."
- Viz.ai delivers a real return on investment across caregiver satisfaction, outcomes and overall efficiency. The software has also helped with clinical trial recruitment and execution. "For our subdural hematoma trial, I know every single subdural that occurs in our healthcare system, whereas before, I was only aware of about 40 percent of them," Dr. Kellner said. "And I was very diligent about communicating with everybody and looking at all the scans. It was surprising how many were kind of slipping through the cracks."
Key for hospitals today is supporting physicians in a tight staffing environment, as hospitals become increasingly higher acuity settings. That calls for a solution like Viz.ai that allows high volumes of high-acuity services to move quickly and smoothly while driving value and better outcomes.
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