Improving Billing Accuracy Through Enterprise-Wide Standardized Structured Reporting With Cross-Divisional Shared...

Area of Science:

• Radiology Informatics
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Workflow Optimization

Background:

• Standardized structured reporting is crucial for efficient and accurate medical imaging interpretation.
• Previous efforts in adopting structured reporting have shown variable success.
• Implementing enterprise-wide changes requires robust change management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the implementation of enterprise-wide standardized structured reporting for chest radiographs (CXRs).
• To assess the economic impact and radiologist time savings associated with structured template adoption.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of change management strategies in driving adoption.

Main Methods:

• Phased implementation of standardized structured CXR reporting (2016-2019) using division-specific and consensus templates.
• Tracking template usage over time to estimate radiologist time savings.
• Collecting correct-to-bill (CTB) rates for radiography and all radiology reports pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• CXR structured template adoption increased from 46% to over 96% across two phases.
• Estimated radiologist time savings of 8.5 hours per month.
• Post-intervention CTB rates increased by 12% overall and 8% for radiography, with a 20% absolute difference for radiography.

Conclusions:

• Change management strategies successfully prompted adoption of standardized structured reporting templates.
• Auto-launching consensus templates ensured widespread adherence.
• Standardized structured reporting yielded significant economic benefits and projected radiologist time savings.