Alabama Hospital Improves Follow-Up on Incidental Imaging Findings
East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) in Opelika, Alabama, reports that it has seen significant improvements in patient safety by better identifying opportunities for imaging follow-up—and completing those follow-ups.
The 340-bed EAMC partnered with Inflo Health, a company focused on AI-driven radiology follow-up care orchestration. The collaboration was two-pronged: EAMC participated in the Recommendations Follow-Up Improvement Collaborative of the American College of Radiology's ImPower program, while simultaneously implementing Inflo Health's software to execute on the measure specifications outlined by the collaborative.
The goal was to improve the consistent inclusion of actionable and appropriate follow-up recommendations for incidentally detected pulmonary nodules and improve the percentage of exams that receive timely follow-up. Using Inflo Health's radiology-trained AI, which was integrated into existing workflows, EAMC increased completion rates for recommended lung nodule follow-ups by 74%, supported a 20% improvement in adherence to Fleischner Society Guidelines, and increased staff efficiency by 95%, while reducing risk for patients and the organization.
The quality improvement education and support provided by the ImPower program, coupled with EAMC's commitment to improve patient outcomes, and Inflo Health's willingness to adapt their product, made these advancements possible, Inflo and EAMC said.
Based on Inflo's participation in ImPower in partnership with EAMC and their incorporation of the Recommendations Follow-up collaborative measure specifications into the solution's AI models, Inflo Health qualified for ACR's Learning Network Vendor Partner status.
"Inflo Health's collaboration with East Alabama Medical Center and the ACR Learning Network has dramatically enhanced our approach to lung nodule management and radiology follow-up," said Melinda Johnson, radiology director at EAMC, in a statement. "The technology introduced by Inflo Health has significantly streamlined our processes, reduced manual effort and boosted staff efficiency. This has also enabled us to expand care navigator roles to other clinical areas. This partnership exemplifies how integrating advanced technology with strategic collaboration can set new standards in radiology practices and operational excellence."
The collaboration between EAMC, Inflo Health, and the ACR Learning Network began with data collection, using Inflo Health's AI language models and natural language processing to extract and present relevant data from EAMC's radiology reports.
In parallel, the AI findings were jointly validated by EAMC and Inflo, leading to improved accuracy of Inflo's insights and recommendations. This work helped the team gain consensus around the problem they were trying to solve, provided opportunities for collaboration between team members and ultimately accelerated patient quality and adherence to recommended follow-ups.
EAMC then implemented Inflo's appropriateness measures, automating the process of identifying incidental lung nodules that met the inclusion criteria. This reduced the time required from five hours per week — a task usually undertaken by staff manually poring over radiology reports—to just 15 minutes, representing a 95% efficiency improvement.
To improve the completion of recommended imaging follow-ups, EAMC worked to address barriers, including inconsistent communication between acute care and primary care. By involving PCPs in the process and dedicating resources to managing follow-ups, they increased completion rates by 74%—from 39% to 68%. This joint approach not only enhanced patient outcomes but also generated an estimated $9,000 per month in additional revenue, opening the door to funding additional quality improvement and patient safety goals.
"Leveraging technology to standardize and optimize clinical workflows requires the concerted efforts of organizations and their software vendors working in tandem, so that the solution is built by understanding the problem" says Judy Burleson, vice president of quality management programs at the American College of Radiology, in a statement. "The quality improvement education and support provided by the ImPower program, coupled with EAMC's commitment to improve patient outcomes, and Inflo Health's willingness to adapt their product, made these advancements possible.”
