Quality outcomes require an accurate diagnosis, and an accurate diagnosis requires the right tools, meaning providers are looking for imaging solutions that support both care efficiency and safety. Health technology companies like Philips have taken note of this value proposition and are committed to delivering solutions that support business efficiencies and quality outcomes.
Austin O’Connell, head of quality and regulatory in the diagnostic imaging business group at Philips, believes safe, effective care goes hand-in-hand with operationally efficient care. Mr. O’Connell has worked in both the medical device and pharmaceutical fields with a focus on quality improvement. He joined Philips in 2017.
Recently, Mr. O’Connell spoke with Becker’s about patient safety and what it takes to drive quality outcomes through imaging,
Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Why are patient safety and quality top concerns in C-Suite agendas?
Austin O’Connell: Patient safety and quality have always been important to healthcare organizations. In the conversations that I’ve had with C-suite executives, there has been a recognition that an increase in revenue and operational efficiency is achieved by ensuring that the equipment or solutions used by caregivers in the hospital are safe, reliable and effective. Care models should be designed to move patients from the front door to the back door in the safest, most effective and most expeditious manner possible. You want patients to leave the confines of the hospital feeling that the care they’ve experienced was designed with their best interest in mind. This means the C-suite is looking for solutions that can help both improve safety and business efficiency.
Q: How do investments in patient safety and quality initiatives help hospitals achieve the goals of the quadruple aim?
AO: The goals of the quadruple aim are to improve patient and staff experiences, and care outcomes while lowering the cost of care. Achieving this requires a commitment from hospitals and investments in safe, efficient and effective solutions are essential to supporting these efforts. The reliability and repeatability of solutions and processes are core to delivering care that meets the goals of the quadruple aim. For us at Philips, it’s all about supporting that long-term commitment to improving the patient experience and the healthcare system over all.
In terms of diagnostic imaging, it’s about maintaining a total safety and quality mindset. Especially when it relates to managing things like managing radiation dose and limiting those exposures over time. The solutions we provide must be designed in a manner that minimizes risk for the patient, buy also reliably supports accurate diagnosis.
At Philips, we really work to understand the needs of hospitals in terms of provision of care and provision of diagnostics. We listen and then develop solutions that can help meet our client’s needs. And we take the quadruple aim into consideration as we develop these solutions.
Q: What are the keys to driving quality outcomes through imaging?
AO: In imaging, reliability and consistency are key tenets and necessary for achieving quality outcomes for both healthcare organizations and patients. To achieve reliability and consistency in imaging, equipment must be regularly monitored and measured to ensure systems are helping to deliver patient care that is safe, effective and beneficial from a business perspective. Reducing the need to bring patients back in for a rescan reduces the overall cost to a healthcare organization and can be achieved through reliability and consistency. It’s about getting it right the first time. And that’s our philosophy at Philips.
Q: Why is it important to take behavior-based approach to patient safety and quality in radiology departments?
AO: When human beings are involved, there’s always potential for human error. We need to look at things holistically. It’s not just about identifying human error but determining how the systems and workflow process can be improved to reduce the chance of human error in the future. The solutions we develop work in sync with end users and can anticipate the needs of the users to help prevent errors.
A behavior-based approach requires taking into consideration how clinicians interact with both the patients and the imaging equipment. This allows for a clearer understanding of the potential for misuse, distraction or misinterpretation in imaging. We have to understand that as much as our imaging systems are self-contained, they are very much part of the ecosystem of the radiology department and have multiple individuals interfacing with it, either briefly, or consistently, every day. This means the technology needs to be capable of interfacing differently with different individuals.
In terms of continued improvements, we have to be very much open to feedback from our customers on how our devices perform. Listening to all of the stakeholders in the imaging system that interact with that equipment allows us to continue to develop and design systems that are a lot more efficient.
Q: With the shift to value-based care, how will the role of patient safety and quality, and imaging become even more critical?
AO: With the transition to value-based care, everything that hospitals do must tie back to the value proposition from a safety and cost perspective. That goes back to this whole thing about providers ensuring care delivery is safe, effective and efficient. In imaging, we must also have safety and efficiency in mind when developing solutions. If our solutions go down, we’re failing the patient and the hospital. So, we’re focused on uptime and service to ensure health providers get the most value and efficiency out of our imaging solutions to improve patient care.
Value-based care means it’s no longer a volume game. This means quality must be at the core of the operation. The cost element is only part of the equation, and it goes back to the quadruple aim. I think the quadruple aim is a fantastic foundational concept for having strategic discussions about what we really care about. I love my family, I love my friends, I love the people that are close to me, and any of those people could become a patient at any given time and I want them to be properly cared for. I’ve carried that perspective with me throughout my career in the medical device, imaging and pharmaceutical industry.
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