Secondary review reduced inpatient MRI orders and avoidable hospital days

Medical centers have dramatically increased the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). At 2 large academic tertiary care centers in New York City, nearly half of inpatient MRI orders took more than 12 h to complete, delaying patient discharge and increasing avoidable hospital days. We posited that transitioning inpatient MRIs to outpatient facilities, when safe and appropriate, could reduce inpatient MRI orders and avoidable hospital days.

We manually reviewed 59 inpatient MRI orders delayed on the estimated date of discharge (EDD). These orders were often delayed due to no standard process to escalate orders for medical reasons or no system to coordinate outpatient orders. We developed a revised workflow involving an automation platform that flagged inpatient MRI orders requested within 24 h of the EDD and emailed the care team to request a second review of the order. The care team reconsidered whether the order was (1) required for discharge, (2) non-urgent and could be converted to an outpatient order, or (3) unnecessary and could be canceled.

Over 9 months, the automation platform flagged 618 inpatient MRI orders, of which 53.9% (333/618) were reviewed by the care team. Among the orders, 24.0% (80/333) of reviewed orders and 12.9% (80/618) of all orders were transitioned to either outpatient or canceled orders. These transitioned orders were associated with 267 fewer avoidable hospital days and a cost savings of $199,194.

A standardized process and second review of inpatient MRI orders on the EDD can reduce inappropriate orders and more effectively use inpatient imaging resources.

A standardized workflow and automation platform encouraged a second review of inpatient MRI orders to reduce inappropriate orders, avoidable hospital days, and hospital costs.