Ursula Wright, MSN/MBA, FNP-BC, from Mercy Health System, explains how the nation's fifth largest Catholic health system used heart failure pathways and order sets to reduce length of stay and $14 million in costs to treat heart failure patients. Mercy earned the 2016 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award for its leverage of information technology to impact its clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Read the article “Device Technologies to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions.”
 

When a pediatric patient at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles needed a custom-build stent to repair his pulmonary artery, pediatric interventional cardiologist Frank Ing, M.D., used 3-D printed models from the patient's CT scans. The model helped make sure the stent they made would fit. The model also was used to plan and guide the procedure. This video is made up of clips complied by the hospital and includes some narration of the case by Ing, ending with the final angiographic result with the new stent. Read the article “Children's Hospital Los Angeles Cardiologist Creates Modified Stent for 18-month-old Using Printed 3-D Model.”
 

Mahadevappa Mahesh, MS, Ph.D., chief physicist and professor of radiology and radiological science at Johns Hopkins Hospital, explains the basics of medical imaging dose monitoring technologies. This includes monitoring and recording software meet new Joint Commission requirements, state dose laws and to improve patient safety regarding X-ray radiation exposure. Read the article “The Role of Dose Tracking Systems in Radiation Safety Programs.”

At RSNA 2016, the key buzzwords were “deep learning,” “machine learning” and “artificial intelligence.” Vendors and major academic centers are developing a wide array of artificial intelligence neuro networks to aid radiologists in clinical diagnosis and clinical decision support. Here are two examples of how the IBM Watson system examines a mammography and cardiac patient imaging studies. Watch the VIDEO “Development of Artificial Intelligence to Aid Radiology,” an interview with Mark Michalski, M.D., director of the Center for Clinical Data Science at Massachusetts General Hospital, explaining the basis of artificial intelligence in radiology.

This video, provided by Zoll, demonstrates how cardiologists can explain sudden cardiac death to patients. It is critical to educate patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), so Rahul Doshi, M.D., director of electrophysiology, associate professor of clinical medicine, Keck Medical Center of University of Southern California, explains sudden cardiac death (SCD) to his patients using a simple illustration. Visit SCDFacts.org for additional resources for you and your team to support the SCD conversation with your patients. One in five post-AMI patients have been shown to be at high risk of dying after PCI.1 The majority of mortality in AMI patients post-PCI occurs in the first three months — one out of every 10 high-risk patients die, with about 60 percent of this mortality due to SCD.[1,2] 

1. Halkin A, et al. Prediction of Mortality After Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Acute Myocardial Infarction: CADILLAC Risk Score. JACC 2005;45:1397–1405.

2. Stone G, et al. Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Post PTCA in High-Risk Patients. Medscape. April 2011. https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/741503_transcript

With bundled payments putting increased pressure on hospitals to manage supply costs while providing quality patient care, there is no room in your cath lab for high-value medical device waste. An automated inventory management solution could help you find and reduce the waste hiding in your supply chain while helping to improve your total cost of care. Visit cardinalhealth.com/CIMS. 

You have bigger priorities than managing inventory. Patient safety, quality care and clinician satisfaction top the list. But automated technology can help you improve the way you purchase, control and manage your cath lab inventory, allowing you to positively support your top priorities – and your hospital’s overall performance. For more information, watch this archived webinar on inventory management in the cath lab

ITN/DAIC Editor Dave Fornell takes a tour of some of the most innovative new trends and health information technologies (IT) on the expo floor of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2016 meeting. Technologies include radiation dose management, wearables, patient engagement, admission kiosks, analytics software and imaging workflow aids.

DAIC Editor Dave Fornell takes a tour of some of the trends and interesting new technologies from the vendor booths on the expo floor at the 2016 meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). 

Examples of clinical decision support software currently on the market that might be leveraged to address Stage 3 Meaningful Use from the expo floor of HIMSS 2016. Ascendian Healthcare Consulting CEO Shawn McKenzie also discusses how and why CDS should be integrated into the radiology workflow. Read the April 2017 article “CMS to Require Appropriate Use Criteria Documentation for Medical Imaging Orders.”

Examples of patient engagement technologies for medical imaging to meet health IT Stage 3 Meaningful Use requirements. Discussion includes examples from the expo floor at HIMSS 2016 and Ascendian Healthcare Consulting CEO Shawn McKenzie explaining ways radiology can leverage technology to engage patients with images, reports and radiation dose records. 

Managing inventory in the procedural area is often a challenge that creates substantial waste and inefficiency that impacts your bottom line. Understanding how to overcome the top barriers allows you to spend more time on patient care and less time on tackling your supplies. Learn how you can manage inventory more effectively with Cardinal Health Inventory Management Solutions. For more information visit cardinalhealth.com/cims.

ITN/DAIC Editor Dave Fornell shows his choices for some of the most innovative new imaging technologies on the expo floor at Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2015 meeting.

DAIC Editor Dave Fornell offers his choices for the most innovative new interventional cardiovascular technologies presented on the expo floor and in sessions at the 2015 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. 

DAIC Editor Dave Fornell shares some of the most innovative new technologies shown on the expo floor and discusses in sessions at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2015 annual meeting.

Interview with Dee Dee Wang, M.D., FACC, FASE, advanced structural heart imaging staff cardiologist, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, about the use of 3-D printing to aid procedural planning and guidance in complex structural heart cases. Read the article “Henry Ford Hospital Study Shows 3-D Imaging Improves Fixing Broken Hearts.”     Read the article “The Future of 3-D Printing in Medicine.”
 

DAIC/ITN Editor Dave Fornell shows examples of new healthcare IT technology at the 2015 HIMSS meeting that will change the future of healthcare. These include healthcare wearable devices, smart phone apps, virtual training software, population health data, and technology for patient engagement.  See more exampled of how consumer healthcare technology is rapidly evolving in the VIDEO: Wearable Health Monitors and Apps at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show.
 

At HIMSS 2015, one of the biggest trends was the explosion of consumer health related wearable devices and smartphone apps and how these will integrate into the healthcare system for improved patient monitoring and patient engagement. Thomas Martin, HIMSS director of health information systems, explains this trend and where these devices will fit in during the coming years. Read the article "How Wearables, Smartphones and Apps May Change the Face of Healthcare."
 

Mony Weschler, chief applications strategist and architect, application technology services, Montefiore Health System, New York, explains how he integrated enterprise imaging and mobile ECG waveform at Montefiore Health System.