The radiologists at Birmingham Radiological Group-GV division (BRG-GV) are committed to delivering quality reporting and being clinician-friendly—answering dozens of calls a day and creating an environment where patients and their care come first. As one of the first radiology groups to implement PowerScribe One, the BRG-GV team has changed its radiology game, with faster-than-ever turnaround times, significantly improved report quality, and more efficient workflow.
In Birmingham, Alabama, the Birmingham Radiological Group – GV division has continued to grow. But until 2019, the division’s radiologists still relied one hundred percent on transcription for their radiology reports. According to radiologist Dr. Joel Mixon, the process was inefficient at best. As a resident, he trained on a voice recognition platform, so he knew there was a better way to create radiology reports. He and others who had prior experience with PowerScribe in different settings were instrumental in getting the BRG-GV team to decide on PowerScribe One as its go-forward reporting platform.
“There’s no question that having a quick turnaround has been a game-changer for us,” says Dr. Mixon. “From the old typed, transcribed, and signed report process taking days to where we are now – it’s a huge improvement.” He notes that while any voice recognition solution would have been faster than transcription, the BRG-GV radiologists felt that the PowerScribe One voice recognition capability and reporting platform were far superior to others they worked with in the past. With Nuance, they were able to see exponential improvement in work efficiency and, therefore, turnaround times. To illustrate, Dr. Mixon shares two examples.
He notes that efficiencies in creating reports can now make a difference in saving lives for patients who may be experiencing a stroke. “We have a stroke center with protocols. Imaging must be done in a finite amount of time – if the report is delayed, the care is delayed. But having a treasure like PowerScribe One means we can generate the report in seven minutes – and in the time saved, we can save patients’ brains.”
Patient care outside the stroke center has also seen significant benefits. From patients needing PICC lines placed to those who have had abdominal imaging, Dr. Mixon notes that reports can be available to the care team “in ninety seconds if we need to push it.”
He goes on to say that the turnaround times have improved so dramatically that dozens of physicians have stopped him in the hallway to comment on it and thank him for the department’s efforts. “We’ve always been committed to being clinician-friendly,” says Dr. Mixon. Now, with PowerScribe One, the BRG-GV radiology team is better able to make and keep their commitments.
For example, they would field 50-60 calls a day in the reading room in the past. In many cases, physicians were looking to consult on cases and get advice. But there were also frequent calls looking for reports to come out of the transcription process.
This dramatically changed for the better with PowerScribe One. Dr. Mixon goes on to explain: “We tracked it one day and realized an 80 percent decrease in phone calls within the first two weeks of having PowerScribe One. It had an immediate impact on the busy, hectic nature of our reading room. There are now fewer distractions, and the work quality is better because we’re not interrupted so often to handle the phone calls.”
PowerScribe One truly takes radiology reporting and communication to the next level. The countless workflow enhancements make PowerScribe One a game-changer since it harnesses AI, cloud-powered technology, and real-time structured data to bring new levels of efficiency, accuracy, quality, and performance to the practice of radiology.