quality corner: the innovation hub
By Sam Marie Engle
As chief quality officer for Emory Radiology, Dr. Melissa Davis works closely with Emory Healthcare’s Innovation Hub to advance opportunities for imaging clinicians to develop and pilot test products aimed at improving the quality and safety of imaging services. It’s a natural next step for Emory Radiology’s Quality team.
“Radiologists are well-positioned to innovate at a systems level,” Dr. Davis says. “We touch every service line so we know the enterprise better than almost any other specialty. We’re real problem-solvers and specialists when it comes to harnessing informatics for process and quality improvement, plus, quality and safety are embedded in our work. It makes complete sense for us to be at the forefront of health care innovation.”
What Is the Innovation Hub?
Launched in 2019, Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub bills itself as “a premier healthcare advancement and commercialization program that connects all the pieces of the health care continuum to validate, accelerate and realize ideas. Our mission - realize improvements in health outcomes, increase access to quality care, lower overall costs to the system and improve health care provider experiences in Georgia and across the nation.”
Scott D. Boden, MD, vice president of business innovation for Emory Healthcare and chief medical/quality officer for Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, founded and leads the Innovation Hub. Emory Radiology pays a prominent leadership role: Gregory Q. Hill, JD, vice chair and executive administrator for Emory Radiology and vice president for Emory Healthcare, serves on the Innovation Hub’s Steering Committee along with Nabile Safdar, MD, Emory Radiology’s vice chair for imaging informatics and associate chief medical information officer for Emory Healthcare.
Less than a year into Emory Radiology’s involvement, two projects are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve imaging services.
As chief quality officer for Emory Radiology, Dr. Melissa Davis works closely with Emory Healthcare’s Innovation Hub to advance opportunities for imaging clinicians to develop and pilot test products aimed at improving the quality and safety of imaging services. It’s a natural next step for Emory Radiology’s Quality team.
“Radiologists are well-positioned to innovate at a systems level,” Dr. Davis says. “We touch every service line so we know the enterprise better than almost any other specialty. We’re real problem-solvers and specialists when it comes to harnessing informatics for process and quality improvement, plus, quality and safety are embedded in our work. It makes complete sense for us to be at the forefront of health care innovation.”
What Is the Innovation Hub?
Launched in 2019, Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub bills itself as “a premier healthcare advancement and commercialization program that connects all the pieces of the health care continuum to validate, accelerate and realize ideas. Our mission - realize improvements in health outcomes, increase access to quality care, lower overall costs to the system and improve health care provider experiences in Georgia and across the nation.”
Scott D. Boden, MD, vice president of business innovation for Emory Healthcare and chief medical/quality officer for Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, founded and leads the Innovation Hub. Emory Radiology pays a prominent leadership role: Gregory Q. Hill, JD, vice chair and executive administrator for Emory Radiology and vice president for Emory Healthcare, serves on the Innovation Hub’s Steering Committee along with Nabile Safdar, MD, Emory Radiology’s vice chair for imaging informatics and associate chief medical information officer for Emory Healthcare.
Less than a year into Emory Radiology’s involvement, two projects are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve imaging services.
Line of Sight Health
Line of Sight and Emory Radiology are pilot-testing AI-enabled infrared workflow tracking in the Emory University Hospital Interventional Radiology suite. Aptly named—line of sight refers to the unobstructed path between two points—Line of Sight infrared technology identifies obstructions or bottlenecks between patient arrival at and departure from the IR suite for real-time resolution while also processing workflow data and flagging areas for the team to address. The goal: patient flow synched with scheduling for an optimal patient experience as well as optimal facility utilization.
Line of Sight and Emory Radiology are pilot-testing AI-enabled infrared workflow tracking in the Emory University Hospital Interventional Radiology suite. Aptly named—line of sight refers to the unobstructed path between two points—Line of Sight infrared technology identifies obstructions or bottlenecks between patient arrival at and departure from the IR suite for real-time resolution while also processing workflow data and flagging areas for the team to address. The goal: patient flow synched with scheduling for an optimal patient experience as well as optimal facility utilization.
Philips ROCC
AI-enabled software dramatically improves the process of creating clinical staff schedules, so what if the technology could be adapted to include coverage for clinical training and troubleshooting provided by the department’s imaging physicists? That’s what Emory Radiology is exploring with imaging technology giant Philips. The project harnesses the power of Philips Radiology Operations Command Center (ROCC) in a pilot test at Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital and the new Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center at Flowery Branch, shown here with MRI technologist Benjamin Smith.
AI-enabled software dramatically improves the process of creating clinical staff schedules, so what if the technology could be adapted to include coverage for clinical training and troubleshooting provided by the department’s imaging physicists? That’s what Emory Radiology is exploring with imaging technology giant Philips. The project harnesses the power of Philips Radiology Operations Command Center (ROCC) in a pilot test at Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital and the new Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center at Flowery Branch, shown here with MRI technologist Benjamin Smith.
What's Next
As Emory Radiology and the Innovation Hub roll into the second year of collaboration, Dr. Davis says they’re looking to incubate two or three new projects. “This next year we’ll be focused on building program infrastructure so we can efficiently expand the number of pilot projects,” she says. “We encourage Emory Radiology team members to contact us if they have a startup company or a tech-driven product idea for improving the way we provide imaging services our patients.”
For more information or to pitch a partnership, contact Dr. Melissa Davis at [email protected].
As Emory Radiology and the Innovation Hub roll into the second year of collaboration, Dr. Davis says they’re looking to incubate two or three new projects. “This next year we’ll be focused on building program infrastructure so we can efficiently expand the number of pilot projects,” she says. “We encourage Emory Radiology team members to contact us if they have a startup company or a tech-driven product idea for improving the way we provide imaging services our patients.”
For more information or to pitch a partnership, contact Dr. Melissa Davis at [email protected].