After a one-year hiatus, the New York Medical Imaging Informatics Symposium (NYMIIS) returns on September 7, this time run in partnership with the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). The joint SIIM-NYMIIS regional meeting in New York City plans to offer attendees a plethora of imaging informatics content.
Held again at its familiar venue at the New York Marriott Marquis, the meeting program will feature presentations on topics such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), workflow orchestration, imaging protocol standardization, artificial intelligence (AI), and image exchange. Also on tap: roundtable breakout sessions on service line integration and the role of AI in the future of medical imaging. As was the case for previous editions of NYMIIS, SIIM-NYMIIS will also feature an exhibit hall.
NYMIIS was the brainchild of Dr. David Hirschorn of Staten Island University Hospital, part of Northwell Health. However, a transition from serving as director of radiology informatics at Staten Island University Hospital to a new broader role as director of informatics for the entire imaging service line at Northwell Health left him without any time to produce the symposium in 2016, Hirschorn said.
Dr. David Hirschorn of Staten Island University Hospital."We're very happy to collaborate with SIIM this year because I don't have as much time as I used to to run this, but I really wanted it to happen," he said. "My interest in this symposium happening was for the benefit of the patients who are served by the healthcare institutions who send their employees to the symposium to learn about the best practices and best tools available in imaging informatics. I just wanted to see that continue. Neither I, personally, nor Staten Island University Hospital ever had a financial interest in it; our goal was to break even every year, and we essentially did."
Hirschorn is joined as meeting co-chair for SIIM-NYMIIS by Ann Scherzinger, PhD, chair of the SIIM Education Committee and a professor of radiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
As for SIIM, the society is interested in promoting regional meetings such as SIIM-NYMIIS for several reasons, including the benefit of promoting knowledge in imaging informatics and the value of the specialty, Scherzinger said. These regional meetings also provide a means for SIIM members to obtain continuing education -- a particularly valuable advantage for those who may not be able to attend the society's annual meeting.
"They are a great way for users in the same region to network and share successes," she said. "These meetings bring the leaders, users, vendors, researchers, and students together in a small enough setting to facilitate the sharing of ideas."
AR/VR
SIIM-NYMIIS will kick off with a presentation by Dr. Eliot Siegel and Dr. Vikash Gupta from the University of Maryland on AR and VR in medical imaging. Hirschorn will then give a talk on workflow orchestration, which aims to bring together radiologists at different institutions in a health system -- ensuring that imaging studies are read quickly and by the most appropriate radiologist for the case.
"Workflow orchestration is about reducing those barriers [between different sites in a health system] and really being able to lead your team of radiologists into one fleet of radiologists, where you can move cases around to them in an effective manner for the highest subspecialty expertise in the lowest amount of time," Hirschorn said.
Ann Scherzinger, PhD, from the University of Colorado.After a short break and time to visit the exhibit hall, co-chair Scherzinger will give a presentation on imaging protocol standardization, a process that is performed primarily to standardize the patient experience across a healthcare enterprise.
"Our institution, like many, has spread its boundaries to include many hospitals and clinics across the region," Scherzinger said. "Patients often move between these facilities for specialty care. We look to the standardization of imaging protocols as a way to ensure that when an imaging study is ordered, it is of equal diagnostic quality no matter which facility it is done in. This is particularly important if exams from two time points are compared."
Scherzinger also noted that from a regulatory standpoint, the Joint Commission and the American College of Radiology require that CT protocol review be performed on a regular basis -- at least yearly for a subset by protocols. This review should be performed by a committee that includes radiologists, staff, and medical physicists, she said.
"The intent is to promote best practices for imaging, and it seems most appropriate, reasonable, and practical that recommendations from this review would be shared across the enterprise," Scherzinger told AuntMinnie.com.
The role of AI
Dr. Keith Dreyer, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital will wrap up the morning session with a presentation exploring the potential role of AI in patient care. Used wisely, AI shows promise for boosting sensitivity and specificity and potentially reducing turnaround time, Hirschorn said.
"I see lot of ways AI can help assist in the process without replacing the radiologist," he said.
Those particularly interested in AI can then participate in a roundtable breakout session in the early afternoon, and another roundtable breakout session on supporting service line integration will follow immediately afterward. Dr. David Mendelson of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will then cap off the program with a presentation on the always important topic of image exchange.
