Frost & Sullivan Recognizes vRad With 2014 North American Visionary Innovation Award In Medical Imaging Analytics

vRad’s RPC (Radiology Patient Care) Indices anticipates demand for better clinical and financial performance measurement as market moves from volume to value-based imaging

Frost & Sullivan recognizes Virtual Radiologic (vRad) with the 2014 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for Visionary Innovation based on recent analysis of the medical imaging analytics market. vRad is among the early movers in the market, having sensed the need for better clinical and operational analytics in the imaging industry. vRad responded swiftly by developing tool sets that enable enterprises to more effectively measure and benchmark the value, quality and performance of their imaging services.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that demonstrates a superior understanding and ability to leverage Mega Trends. vRad has translated its vision into strategy excellence, exhibited efficacy in its innovation process, and left a significant impact on business and society.

In order to develop clinical and business intelligence and improve operational performance metrics of imaging services, vRad leveraged its access to a large customer base of radiology groups in hospitals and ambulatory facilities. The company then started a gradual release to the wider market of these findings-based metrics, known as the RPCSM (Radiology Patient Care) Indices. vRad made these indices publically available at no charge, in order to encourage a new industry dialogue aimed at uncovering new ways to benefit radiology performance and patient care. 

vRad’s RPC Indices offer radiology imaging providers actionable insights that can help them benchmark the performance of their imaging facility and radiology group. The analytics datasets have the unique ability to help providers identify potential areas in need of improvement and shed light on any workflow bottlenecks in their clinical, operational and business processes.

“The higher visibility into the quality of their services and patient outcomes is more important than ever before for imaging providers,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Principal Nadim Daher. “These insights can help providers uncover best practices that can refine clinical and operational processes, allow for better resource deployment, and drive decisions supported by data rather than conjecture.”

The first set of a sequence of the RPC releases, which pertains to the use of computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department, has already started to help hospitals and radiology groups drive innovation with quality analytics. The geographical differences highlighted by this and subsequent datasets contain critical information for large hospitals and health systems as they strive to make progress and drive efficiencies with population health management across their coverage areas.

For example, a new RPC release included datasets that offered 24/7 monitoring of a radiology department, using interactive infographics that show study relative value units (RVUs), modality mix, patient type and reading location by three distinct radiology shifts. Isolating data associated with each shift can provide greater insight into its economic and operating implications.

In addition, the RPC Indices can align well with imaging enterprises’ necessary efforts to enhance not only their own operational performance, but also the value and quality of service they deliver as part of the broader healthcare enterprise. By achieving higher quality and cost-effectiveness in imaging, the imaging enterprise can contribute more effectively to the wider effort of decreasing patient re-admissions and improving the patient experience. Over the long term, online monitoring of quality metrics can provide overarching value to the overall healthcare industry by trickling down to the patient population as well.

“Providers that wish to align their internal quality metrics with vRad’s RPC Indices can do so independently or by partnering with vRad by utilizing its analytics solutions,” noted Daher. “This represents an opportunity for vRad to evolve as a strategic partner for its radiology group and health system customers, and at the same time to create synergies with its partners by helping them enhance quality, value and performance.”

About vRad (Virtual Radiologic)
vRad (Virtual Radiologic) is a global telemedicine company and the nation’s largest radiology practice with over 450 physicians. Our patented software, data, and clinical processes allow referring physicians to quickly and securely pass patient imaging and information to specialists in order to improve the speed, accuracy, and cost of clinical diagnosis. vRad’s physicians and operational platform serve 2,000+ hospitals, reading over 7 million patient radiology reports annually. vRad is also a leader in healthcare informatics: its RPCSM (Radiology Patient Care) Indices are the first findings-based national and peer group benchmarking metrics for the use of radiology imaging. Our analytics platform includes over 24 million imaging studies, growing at 600,000 per month. vRad’s clinical expertise and evidence-based insight help clients make better decisions for the health of their patients and their practices. For more information, visit www.vrad.com.

About Frost & Sullivan
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