What analytics and reporting can do for a radiology practice
Writing in Diagnostic Imaging in 2020, Dhruv Chopra, then CEO of Collaborative Imaging (now CIVIE), argued that data analytics and reporting were still highly underused in radiology, even as other industries embraced them. Practices, he wrote, are often put off by the fear of using new data systems incorrectly. He made the case that analytics could improve operations, fix billing errors and cut costs, which mattered all the more during COVID-19.
Operational efficiency
Radiologists often work across several data systems, sometimes one for each partner hospital. When those systems aren’t kept consistent, practices miss trends, fail to detect gaps and draw inaccurate conclusions. Chopra recommended advanced reporting tools that manage multiple radiology systems and workstations at once, aggregating data from different platforms into one common system that radiologists can actually use.
He also saw a pandemic role for these tools: supporting departments treating COVID-19 patients and helping practices handle high volumes once business returned.
Billing accuracy
Revenue cycle processes had grown complex, and issues such as incomplete information, missing prior authorization or missing documentation can snowball. Chopra gave an example of software that wrongly attaches one imaging service to three other patients’ claims, showing services that never happened and creating a time-consuming billing mess that delays reimbursement.
Given the volume of claims submitted each day, he argued, reconciling errors like this without rich analytics is slow and ineffective. Analytics systems identify poor data quality and fix mistakes automatically, producing more accurate claims and higher reimbursement rates.
Patient care
Citing a 2018 report in Nature Reviews Cancer, Chopra noted that the volume of radiological data had outgrown the number of professionals able to read it, pushing up workloads in a field where burnout was already high. Pairing analytics with AI can help. A system can recognize an abnormality and move that image higher in the reading order, and automatically re-route images sent to the wrong physician so a plan of action can be set quickly.
Why it still matters
Data volumes in radiology have kept climbing since 2020, and the three benefits Chopra laid out still apply. CIVIE’s business intelligence tools bring operational, clinical and billing data into one view.
Source: “The Importance of Implementing Analytics and Reporting Into Your Radiology Practice,” Dhruv Chopra, Diagnostic Imaging, June 16, 2020.
