Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare recently standardized radiology services across eight recently acquired hospitals in Illinois.
When the purchase was finalized in March, Prime committed $250 million to facility upgrades, capital improvements, system upgrades and technology investments.
Prime has deployed the RadPod platform to help “unify and optimize imaging workflows,” according to a July 1 news release.
Sunil Patel, MD, senior vice president and regional chief medical officer of Prime Healthcare, shared more about the initiative — including results the system has seen — with Becker’s.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Prime Healthcare recently expanded significantly in Illinois with the acquisition of eight hospitals. How will the RadPod platform optimize integration and standardization of radiology services across the network?
Dr. Sunil Patel: The deployment of Civie’s RadPod platform has been instrumental in enabling a rapid and unified transition of radiology services across our new Illinois hospitals. With the cloud-native platform, we’ve been able to standardize imaging workflows, streamline case routing and ensure consistent quality across all sites. The platform’s real-time analytics and AI-driven tools allow us to monitor performance and ensure alignment with best practices. This level of visibility and standardization was essential during a high-speed integration.
Q: What are some of Prime Healthcare’s top priorities when it comes to optimizing imaging services systemwide?
SP: Our top priorities include improving turnaround times, enhancing radiologist efficiency, ensuring consistency of reads across facilities and supporting our referring providers with faster, clearer diagnostic information.
We’re also focused on maximizing the value of every scan, ensuring appropriateness, avoiding duplication and supporting clinical teams with timely, actionable results.
Patient-centered care is at the heart of our imaging strategy, and that means enabling technology and workflows that support speed, accuracy and collaboration.
Q: Looking ahead, what outcomes or capabilities do you hope to achieve through this new chapter in Prime Healthcare’s radiology services across Illinois?
SP: We’re excited about several key outcomes: first, sustained improvements in both inpatient and outpatient imaging turnaround times, which we’ve already begun to see — outpatient reads are now available in under 24 hours systemwide. We also aim to empower radiologists with tools that reduce administrative burdens and improve diagnostic accuracy while expanding access to subspecialty expertise through remote coverage.
Longer term, we envision a fully integrated, analytics-driven imaging network that supports not only clinical care but also population health and operational excellence across Prime’s Illinois region.
