September 15, 2015 — Montage Healthcare Solutions Inc. announced this week the latest software release for Montage Search and Analytics, designed for radiology practices striving to enhance their operations. Building on a robust follow-up tracking capability, Montage's new Follow-Up QC module enables departments to monitor, analyze and optimize follow-up recommendations made by radiologists. Also featured in this new release are several user interface enhancements, numerous new analytic tools, and new quality control (QC) and search features.
The follow-up tracking tool was developed in response to recent literature identifying failed follow-up as a key medicolegal risk and an important revenue opportunity for radiology practices. Upwards of 71 percent of incidentally detected pulmonary nodules are not appropriately followed-up. Failed follow-up can lead to poor patient outcomes and massive malpractice settlements. Several recent studies published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology call for "better systems for appropriate identification and follow-up of incidental findings" and "additional safeguards that allow for better monitoring and tracking of patients with recommendations of further imaging to ensure appropriate follow-up actions."
The Follow-Up QC module offered in Montage 3.0 automatically detects and tracks follow-up recommendations made by radiologists. Montage's advanced natural language processing identifies recommendations without requiring changes in radiologists' dictation habits. The software identifies and highlights overdue recommendations, thereby reducing the incidence of patients lost to imaging follow-up.
Hundreds of the refinements in this new release respond directly to user requests:
- Montage QC features natural language processing improvements as well as new algorithms to identify critical results, Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) opportunities and report mismatches;
- QC Analytics leverages the power of Montage Analytics to enable users to analyze, filter and explore the data produced by Montage QC. Familiar capabilities easily identify performance trends and quality outliers;
- Sequential Search enables complex queries across multiple imaging encounters, an essential foundation for outcome analysis. This new feature also helps practices identify opportunities to reduce length-of-stay for interventional radiology procedures; and
- Search Analyze has become even more powerful, enabling users to drill down rapidly to gain additional insights. More Montage graphs are now clickable for quick and easy access to complex filtering.
For more information: www.montagehealthcare.com