What does patient-centered mean for a radiology practice? For Raleigh Radiology it means providing patients with the convenience, control, and access they are expecting. Their team chose PocketHealth to accelerate their patient-centricity efforts. Learn how.
Patient Centered Care
The traditional doctor-knows-best model of care has not been viable for more than a decade. Smart and progressive healthcare providers have invested the time, effort, and resources to modernize their approach by becoming more patient-centric. This means implementing processes and technologies that cater to the needs of patients as much as clinicians.
Raleigh Radiology, an organization that offers expertise in musculoskeletal, abdominal and women’s and pediatric imaging, as well as neuroradiology, nuclear medicine radiology and interventional and vascular radiology, has been at the cutting edge of patient-centric radiology for years. Their team added PocketHealth’s image sharing platform to accelerate their patient-centric initiatives.
Healthcare IT Today sat down with Frank Manole, Chief Operating Officer at Raleigh Radiology and Rishi Nayyar, Co-Founder & CEO of PocketHealth to learn more about their collaboration and how they are improving the patient journey.
Radiology + Patient-Centricity
Today’s patients seek convenience, control, and access, akin to experiences they have in other industries like travel, hospitality, and retail. The challenge lies in translating these expectations into radiology, a field not typically associated with direct patient engagement.
According to Manole, unlike family practices where patients and physicians form relationships over multiple visits, patients only visit radiology centers for specific reports – a much more transactional relationship.
“Being patient-centric in radiology means digitization, delivering convenience, and providing immediate access to health information for both clinicians and patients,” said Manole. “We need to get the data they want, when they want it so we can meet patients where they need us to be.”
For Raleigh Radiology this meant implementing PocketHealth’s platform that provided easy access to radiology reports and images for patients as well as their referring physicians.
Access to Radiology Reports and Images
Despite the difficult financial environment, Manole and the team at Raleigh Radiology continue to prioritize investments in technology, people, processes that maximize patient experience.
“It is our responsibility to maximize patient outcomes and satisfaction without sacrificing quality,” state Manole. “We must also use our resources responsibly to achieve these goals.”
A recent study found that when patients could access and view their radiology images online:
- 82.9% felt an increase in their understanding of their medical condition
- 79.2% felt more in control of their condition
- 73.6% felt more reassured
- 71.6% had increased levels of trust with their provider
“Ten years ago there was resistance to providing access to images,” shared Nayyar. “What we’ve proven with PocketHealth is that when you give this access to patients as part of a great experience, they are less likely to go elsewhere.”
According to Nayyar, the company has found that 90% of patients are likely to return to the same imaging provider when access to radiology reports and images are offered through PocketHealth. Nayyar shared several stories where patients would seek out radiology providers that had the PocketHealth platform after having such a great experience with it.
Less Administration. More Care.
At first, Raleigh Radiology staff were in disbelief that they would no longer have to burn the images to CDs for patients. However, they quickly saw that the PocketHealth system offered patients complete access without the need for them to perform extra steps.
“It liberates them,” said Manole. “They are excited by it. They understand they can now accomplish more because they have more time to spend on more productive and valuable things.”
“People work in healthcare because they CARE,” added Nayyar. “Administrative tasks take away from that. With PocketHealth we can put more care into their day.”
Collaborative Partnership
“For 70 years we have focused on giving our patients the best clinical quality and the best experience,” stated Manole. “When we started this journey that was our primary goal. We looked for solutions that would allow our people to meet the needs of patients. When we found PocketHealth, we found an organization with similar values and goals in supporting patient care. It was a no-brainer for us to partner with them. It has been a great journey.”
“Raleigh Radiology may be a 70-year-old practice, but they are nimble like a startup,” laughed Nayyar.
“It has been a true partnership. They have held us to task and that is important. They are willing to push the envelop and have worked with us to elevate our technology. They have never treated us like a vendor.”
It is clear that the collaboration between Raleigh Radiology and PocketHealth is both nimble and mutually beneficial. The partnership exemplifies the blending of a 70-year-old practice’s maturity with a startup’s nimbleness, emphasizing continuous improvement and mutual support.
As Raleigh Radiology continues its journey of providing top-notch services to patients, the partnership with PocketHealth stands as a beacon of innovation, patient-centricity, and the seamless integration of technology to drive positive outcomes in healthcare.
Watch the interview with Frank Manole and Rishi Nayyar to learn:
- How delivering images to patients closes an important feedback and experience loop for radiologists
- What radiologists can do to strike the right balance between cutting costs and providing better patient care
- Why it is more important than ever for radiology organizations to invest in patient access technologies
Learn more about Raleigh Radiology at https://www.raleighrad.com/
Learn more about PocketHealth for Providers: https://pockethealth.com/
Learn more about PocketHealth for Patients: https://pockethealth.com/patients/
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