Radiology improvement program yields $42M in potential revenue gains
Quality, safety and efficiency improvements are key to any healthcare organization’s success but require dedicated time and effort. One large radiology department has found success by targeting smaller projects to the tune of $42 million in potential new revenues.
Stanford Health Care Department of Radiology researchers unveiled their 52in52 initiative Wednesday in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Meant to reflect the goal of completing 52 projects in the same number of weeks, the group says they’ve achieved that and more, solving 102 in the first two years while also rewarding staff with a positive experience.
“On the basis of the number of projects completed, the financial and other impact on the department, and participants' survey responses, we consider the 52in52 program to have achieved its objective of reliably facilitating the successful completion a small- to medium-size improvement projects conducted by front-line personnel,” David B. Larson, MD, MBA, a radiologist at Stanford, and colleagues explained.
The radiology department’s performance improvement team first established the program, which spans some 260 full-time employees, 90 full-time clinical members and nearly 80 residents and fellows.
Staff were encouraged to submit a proposal throughout the year, and projects had to be solvable in more than a few days but small enough that a single individual could finish in 4-8 weeks. Participants were given protected time to complete the task and coached for support, including dedicated 30-minute check-ins.
In the first year, 54 projects were finished. They spanned everything from decreasing mismarked images by 50% to finding $48,000 in annual savings for a pertechnetate radiotracer. Each project required about 2 hours of protected time per week and a mean completion time of nearly 6.8 weeks.
Tallied up, the 102 tasks yielded 4,500 labor hours saved, $315,000 in supply cost savings, $42.4 million in potential increased revenues, enhanced patient experience scores, and 60 fewer incidents in near-miss safety events.
Larson and colleagues believe their approach stands as a model for other radiology departments and other healthcare settings.
“The return on time and effort expended was found to be worth the investment,” the authors noted. “We also found that the program effectively filled the niche between large organizational problems that require the effort of multidisciplinary teams and small problems that can be solved through daily management and improvement efforts.”
Read the entire study published April 28 in AJR here, including the group’s seven primary drivers for success.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.