Philips unveiled an integrated suite of offerings which promises to revolutionize workflow in the radiology department by addressing the most pressing operational challenges across diagnostic and interventional radiology, at the RSNA 2020 virtual event.  These include its AI-enabled automated Radiology Workflow Suite, the industry-first vendor neutral Radiology Operations Command Center and the Phillips Advanced Visualization Workspace- IntelliSpace Portal 12. 

By shifting from standalone products to an integrated systems and solutions approach, the Philips Radiology Workflow Suite helps to optimize radiology workflows and generate insights from integrated diagnostics. Patient data can also be connected across departments, creating interoperability for greater clinical intelligence and analysis.  This leads to clearer care pathways and predictable outcomes for every patient.  

As part of its integrated suite of offerings, Philips will be launching the industry’s first vendor-neutral, multimodality, radiology operations command centre to add secure, digital virtual scanner access to existing imaging installs across multiple systems and sites. Its Radiology Operations Command Center is able to connect technologists with onsite staff in a distant location to provide real-time support and collaboration. As such, the Command Center enables remote access to scanners across an imaging network and is compatible with older imaging platforms.  

The Philips Advanced Visualization Workspace- IntelliSpace Portal 12 boasts a set of new AI-assisted quantitative and automatic results generation features to support the diagnostic workflow. Its AI-assisted pulmonary capabilities include the assessment of complex lung conditions associated with COVID-19. This greatly streamlines workflow by automatically generating quantitative measurements and making radiology data available.   

Innovation in the areas of radiography can bring about a plethora of benefits to both patients and healthcare specialists in several areas.  

Firstly, through digitization, the frequency of patient no-shows can be greatly reduced. Such situations often cause a disruption to the workflow, leaving staff and equipment underutilized which in turn can lead to huge financial losses. Boston Medical Centre (BMC) has reaped huge benefits from digitally engaging patients before and after their appointment. Personalized text messages are delivered to remind patients of their upcoming exams and links to safety protocols or other helpful information are shared with them.  

When patients arrive for their appointment, they can check in via text and do not need to gather in a waiting room which reduces the likelihood of physical interaction. Once the patient is ready to be examined, a text message is sent to invite them in. This has saved frontline staff over a thousand phone calls to patients. 

By automating workflow, radiology technologists are able to get more accurate scan results the first time. For example in MR, the workload of the technologist can be reduced by automating exam planning, scanning and processing. Additionally, exam variability is also decreased and technologists are more confident in their diagnosis.  

With the presence of a virtual central command center, image acquisition can be shared amongst both experienced technologists and their less experienced colleagues. As such, professional assistance can be rendered at multiple locations in real-time without the hassle of travelling.  

The use of intelligent algorithms helps to automatically prioritize the cases according to their urgency and determine the best match of cases to the radiologist based on their area of expertise, availability as well as current workload. For example, when a patient with a sudden acute headache is rushed into the ED and a CT scan reveals haemorrhaging within the brain, the work task will automatically appear on the top of the work list of the neuroradiologist who is available at that moment. 

Interactive multimedia offers deeper insights to clinicians by providing in-depth, longitudinal insights in radiology reports without the need for them to search for prior reports and manually compare images. Interactive multimedia reporting grants the ability to embed key images for side-by-side comparison, tumor trending information in charts and graphs and qualitative data for advanced post-processing. 

By creating a unified dashboard that automatically integrates patient information from multiple sources, it facilitates clinical collaboration and aids the care team in their decision making process.  

Lastly, real-time data analytics has paved the way for opportunities to better manage operations. For instance, by providing radiologists with the tools to continuously monitor KPIs such as modality-specific exam volumes, resource utilization and cancellation rates, they can better comprehend how patient engagement changes in tandem with the demand for services.  

To learn more about Philips' Radiology Workflow Suite, click here.