Munster, Indiana, is a thriving suburb 30 miles south of the heart of Chicago. It’s a place where the locals like to stay local, especially when it comes to healthcare. Patients in the area often turn to 454-bed Community Hospital, one of three acute-care hospitals part of Community Healthcare System.
Five years ago, two key takeaways from a survey of their pathologists sent NorthShore University HealthSystem toward the front lines of a technological revolution: digital pathology.
The team almost unanimously agreed that, first, it was time to consider AI as an aid to microscopic tissue analysis. And second, 73% wanted the flexibility to work remotely at another site or at home, at least sometimes, via telepathology.
It was about 2000 when Yale pathologist John Sinard, MD, PhD, first heard the prediction. “In five years, we won’t be using microscopes,” a respected peer quipped. “We’ll be examining all our slides as digitized images on computer monitors.”
Nearly a quarter-century later, Sinard reports: “I’m at my workstation, and my microscope is sitting right here next to me.”
With more than 7 million digitized slides on hand, the pathology department at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City represents one of the largest repositories of whole slide images in the world. It’s no surprise the library is so large, as it’s been accruing new images since 2008. And with total case volumes exceeding one million slide reads per year, the inventory continues to grow at that scale.
Remember when X-ray abandoned cumbersome film once sleek digital suitors showed up? It happened little by little, not all at once. In much the same way, radiology datasets are leaving cramped hardware spaces for the inexhaustible, ever-flexible expanse of the cloud.
The Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) is a 173-bed hospital located in Anchorage, Ala., working in close partnership with Alaska’s rural health facilities to support a broad range of healthcare and related services.
When the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was signed into law in 2015, it answered the prayers of healthcare providers everywhere and repealed the sustainable growth rate (SGR) once and for all.
The Cardiovascular Business team embarked on this survey to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of cardiovascular health, the role CVIS plays and the goals cardiovascular leaders have established for the next few years.
This report offers a snapshot of what health system and cardiovascular leaders think. Some of it validates, while some enlightens. It all helps guide leadership on a data-rich and insightful journey into the future.
When it comes to CVIS strategy across the survey base, C-suite leaders and cardiovascular department heads share the responsibility equally often. But in academic medical centers and multi-hospital systems, the division of power is different.
Today CVIS sits at the heart of cardiovascular care, uniting and propelling clinical, operational and financial success. CVIS is the compass and brain guiding workflow, data flow, decision-making and driving good outcomes.
When we dig to unearth cardiovascular care’s top trends, challenges and goals, the findings bring the present into sharp relief: Today’s CV leaders are focused on growth and committed to improving both quality of care and operational performance. They also have their eyes on retaining talented staff and reducing clinician burnout.