IMAGING Q&A
An Imaging Informatics Paradigm Shift Is Inevitable
When you look at the current state in the evolution of imaging, what do you see as the great- est challenges, and the greatest opportunities, in the current mo- ment, and in the next five years?
Healthcare organizations face ever-increas- ing volumes and complexity of exams, more studies to store and manage, and the growth in the silos of images in depart- ments outside of radiology and cardiol- ogy. In addition, many are experiencing enormous financial pressure which will likely result in more consolidation of pro- vider organizations through merger and acquisition activity. Over the next five years, there will be
a focus on image sharing, interoperabil- ity, redesigning workflow and adopting technology to allow providers to increase productivity and take costs out of their system. This will be enabled through cloud adoption, AI productivity tools integrated into workflows and tele-services to support patients who will increasingly expect to engage in the sharing of information, not just after but while receiving care.
What is your perspective on the state of interoperability in imaging right now? What are the remaining barriers to true
interoperability? Medical imaging was an early adopter of standards such as DICOM, but PACS systems brought proprietary standards that have created a situation of vendor lock for many providers. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that the volume and diversity of non-DICOM image sets is growing significantly. This creates some unique interoperability challenges because standards need to be present not only in the imaging metadata, but in patient iden- tification data as well. Enterprise imaging solutions can help bridge this gap with the standards and image management capa- bilities that they bring.
Are we on the verge of a new way of thinking about image- sharing, and of accomplishing it?
Yes. It is no longer a matter of simple point-to-point image sharing there is an increased need for real-time image sharing and collaboration across an extended care team. Clinical outcomes and patient satis- faction are also increasingly influenced by having quick and easy access to a complete imaging history of the patient wherever care is provided.
Might the sharing of smaller tranches of image sets be realistically possible, and how might things be speeded up, in
that regard? Curating image data so that a physician does not have to scan the entire data set would speed up time to clinical insight and I believe this will be possible, especially as AI evolves. As a simple example Hyland has implemented the filtering of prior exams in our diagnostic viewer based on anatomic adjacency, to prioritize relevant priors to review.
Enterprise-wide imaging informatics has been evolving forward as a concept, but challenges and obstacles remain. What do you see as the biggest ones, and how will they be
overcome? The biggest challenge is efficiently and reli- ably aggregating large volumes of image data from multiple sources. Curating this clinically rich data is not only essential to driving results and improved productivity, it is imperative to training artificial intel- ligence and machine learning technologies that are being leveraged more and more extensively to deliver clinical insights.
What will image informatics look like in hospitals, medical groups, and health systems, five years
from now? Imaging data will continue to increase in volume, diversity, and complexity. Imaging informatics will focus on turning the wealth of data into quickly actionable information for care teams. This is important as provider organizations will go through significant operational changes in how they deliver care.
Sandra Lillie
Director of Enterprise Imaging Sales Hyland Healthcare
What are the biggest challenges, collectively speaking, facing all vendor organizations in this space, in the next few to several years? And how can vendors become more responsive to the needs and express desires of clinician and non- clinician leaders in patient care
organizations? For healthcare providers, organizational agility and cost reduction will be primary drivers for the foreseeable future. This will require vendors to be more innovative and flexible in the solutions and services they deliver. Offering reliable cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings for enterprise imaging will be a must, as will agile and extensible platforms for image acquisition, management, sharing and visualization. Imaging in today’s health- care environment requires a shift in mind- set and execution.
Sponsored Content
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 |
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