Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Radiologists have been concerned about how artificial intelligence (AI) will affect their jobs. But for the most part, AI has a promising future in radiology and should be embraced, according to a panel of speakers at a conference held last week in Boston by the Insight Exchange Network.
In a talk at the meeting, a number of imaging informatics experts offered their perspectives on AI's emerging role. While image interpretation is the "sexy" piece of AI, in reality the technology has the potential to be used at every step of the imaging chain, from ordering images to delivering reports to referring physicians, according to Katherine Andriole, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Indeed, AI is already demonstrating shortcomings in image interpretation, especially for identifying more obscure pathologies, according to Dr. Kevin Seals of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Expanding the scope of AI is one challenge facing the discipline, he believes.
Read more thoughts on AI and radiology by clicking here, or visit our Artificial Intelligence Community at ai.auntminnie.com.
Medicare's decision-support delay
The rollout of clinical decision support (CDS) within the Medicare and Medicaid system has been pushed off another year. But that's probably good news that creates opportunities for imaging practices, according to a webinar yesterday hosted by the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had originally set a deadline of January 1, 2018, for providers to use CDS software to order exams for advanced imaging modalities such as CT, MRI, and PET. But CMS late last year pushed that back to January 2021 before interpreting physicians face reimbursement penalties if CDS software isn't used.
The delay should give providers more time, but sites should plan to have clinical decision support up and running by 2020 to take advantage of education and testing periods, according to our story. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our Imaging Informatics Community at informatics.auntminnie.com.
Virtual radiology consultations
Finally, visit our Imaging Leaders Community for an article on a project designed to solve the dilemma of how radiologists can consult with patients and referring physicians without taking too much time away from the workstation. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital tried a pilot project in which virtual consults were performed over video link by radiologists from the reading room. Find out how well it worked by clicking here, or go to the community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
