Medical Imaging in the Digital Age: Overcoming operational bottlenecks

Introduction

Medical imaging comprises 90% of all medical data worldwide, reflecting the essential nature of imaging in modern healthcare. The medical imaging market is $12.4 billion in the U.S. alone, driven by over 700 million diagnostic imaging studies performed annually across 41,000 service sites.

As patients navigate the healthcare system, their medical images become a visual diary of their health journey. These images, alongside doctor notes and charts, are crucial tools that help clinicians determine the next steps in treatment plans, providing a comprehensive view of a patient's medical history and current condition.

Challenges in Medical Imaging Management

Despite its critical importance, the management of medical imaging has not kept pace with the digitization of other healthcare records. Unlike text-based records, which are readily stored and shared electronically, medical images often remain trapped in outdated systems, requiring manual processes for retrieval and transfer.

One major hurdle is that the exchange of medical images often relies on manual processes. Consider the following steps currently needed to obtain previous imaging records:

• Manual Identification: Providers must first determine where a patient’s prior imaging studies were conducted. This often requires contacting multiple facilities to locate the necessary images.

• Request Submission: Once the imaging facility is identified, providers must submit a formal request, which can be time-consuming and requires detailed patient information.

• Waiting for Response: There is often a delay as providers wait for the imaging facility to respond, which can take several days.

• Data Transfer: The transfer of imaging data is typically done through physical media such as CDs, which adds an additional layer of complexity and potential for error.

Laborious indeed!

One might also think EHR giants like Epic would have also made a move into medical imaging management based on their market dominance, but they’re unlikely to be able to translate their success in text-based solutions because:

1. Separate Infrastructure: EHR systems like Epic are designed to manage text-based data such as patient notes, schedules, and test results. However, medical imaging is typically managed through a separate system known as PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). These systems are interconnected but operate independently, which means EHRs are not optimized for storing or accessing the large files associated with medical imaging.

2. Complex Data Formats: Medical images are stored in specialized formats such as DICOM, which require specific handling and processing capabilities that EHRs do not inherently possess. This makes it difficult for EHRs to fully integrate imaging data into their systems​

Overall, these challenges highlight the need for specialized solutions that can work alongside EHRs to streamline the management of medical imaging data. More specifically, they need to address challenges in digital storage, transfer, access, and requisition.

If the opportunities of digitization is so clear, why haven’t incumbents solved the problem already?

Current solutions: Deficiencies in product scope and business model

“Storage and transfer” only addresses part of the digitization challenge

Companies like Intelerad focus on the "digitization" of medical imaging, aiming to make it easier to store and transfer images. However, this approach often requires organizations to manually upload existing images to their cloud systems, taxing already-strained operational resources most clinics don’t have. It also does not address the challenge of acquiring new images from outside their organization, which is typically done through a manual requisition process.

Furthermore, buying into a specific cloud system can lock organizations from effectively communicating with others using different platforms through digital means, limiting the effectiveness of these systems for most imaging clinics when the delays in image requisition are the biggest challenge for health systems.

While these incumbents have solved some of the problems, it will take new innovations and repositioning of value proposition to effectively address all the needs of an effective medical imaging management platform, as the pain points of leveraging medical imaging for better clinical outcomes are shared between the provider and patient.

Future Innovation: Leveraging new technologies to fully address the challenges

The act of storage, transfer, and access have already been digitized, but image requisition has become a key bottleneck. Fortunately, with new technologies now available, the time is now to further innovate.

AI has entered the picture

Artificial Intelligence is the talk of the town nowadays, and their biggest promise in healthcare in the short term is in reducing manual labor for many operational challenges.

Particularly for medical image management, these technologies can efficiently automate the laborious requisition process by navigating the complex hospital networks, identify the necessary imaging studies, and retrieve data without manual intervention. By reducing the time and effort required from healthcare providers, AI-driven solutions streamline workflows and enhance efficiency.

In addition, AI can also enhance interoperability between different medical cloud systems adopted by different healthcare facilities. These solutions aim to integrate seamlessly with existing imaging cloud systems, enabling smoother data exchange and reducing the reliance on manual processes. By connecting disparate systems, these platforms facilitate the sharing of imaging data across providers, improving continuity of care.

Developing Patient-centric applications

Patient-facing apps can now also receive images from the automated requisition process, giving them control over their medical imaging data. Applications that allow patients to access, manage, and share their images with providers by digitally eliminate the need for physical media like CDs.

Conclusion

Medical imaging is an indispensable part of modern healthcare, yet it remains hampered by outdated systems and manual processes that limit its potential. The challenges of managing medical images—from the manual identification and retrieval of data to the lack of interoperability between systems—highlight a significant gap that must be addressed to improve patient care and clinical outcomes.

Fortunately, the rise of artificial intelligence and patient-centric technologies presents a unique opportunity to overcome these limitations. By automating processes and enhancing interoperability, AI-driven solutions can streamline workflows, reduce inefficiencies, and ensure that both providers and patients have timely access to critical imaging information.

Struggling to get your medical images from or to your doctor? Please join us at The Healthcare Syndicate on AngelList to invest in companies that are tackling this healthcare workflow challenge!

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