From the November 2021 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Many vendors are also beginning to integrate AI algorithms into their tools to pre-populate findings into the reporting template, or through NLP technology to codify a radiologist’s dictation of findings.

Despite the multiple sources of information being centralised to supplement structured reports, radiologists will engage with structured reporting via the diagnostic workflow – in the U.S., that will be within the PACS environment. Supporting tools (EMR data, Advanced Visualisation, AI tools) will be seamlessly integrated to provide a single UI in the reading environment. Although some vendors are leading the way with AI and AV integration, phase 2 integration becoming widely available is not anticipated for another 3-5 years, such is the complexity and variety of tools required for a broad reporting solution today.


Different stakeholders’ role to support adoption
To conclude, despite the benefits available from using structured reporting tools, such as leveraging “clean” and standard data, improved collaboration and care quality, and the financial benefits to providers, the U.S. radiology market is unlikely to see mass adoption until the mid-term (3-5 years). For mass adoption to be possible, stakeholders from across radiology need to play a role.

For regulators and national societies, driving the creation of a standardised framework that can be used as the foundation of radiologist reporting will be fundamental. These bodies are in the best position, having reach across the U.S. and engagement with all aspects of the ecosystem; from the radiologists, provider c-level executives, and vendors.

To support structured reporting implementation, healthcare providers need to initiate projects to support the transformation of their radiology departments, overcoming the reporting culture seen today. However, it’s important that this project not only include radiologists, but involve all stakeholders that are involved or affected by radiology reporting.

Lastly, is the role of the vendors. Both best-of-breed structured reporting providers and imaging IT platform vendors need to consider product development, creating automated tools that reduce clicks and pre-populates findings to maximise the quality and efficiency of reporting. Using technology such as NLP, AI and integrating enterprise-wide tools such as AV platforms. Without a substantial effort, the growing promise of structured reporting in radiology could be curtailed, limiting the potential of a new era of diagnosis. Radiology has long upheld a reputation of technological advances and care innovation — it’s time it put its reputation on the line again and finally delivered mature structured reporting adoption at scale.

About the author: Amy Thompson is a market analyst, specializing in imaging informatics at Signify Research. Amy joined Signify Research as part of the Healthcare IT team, focusing on Imaging and Clinical IT. Signify Research is an independent supplier of market intelligence and consulting services to the global healthcare technology industry, with expertise across Healthcare IT, Medical Imaging, Clinical Care and Digital Health.

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