Radiology will generate a significantly lower number of critical values than will the lab. In these cases, the findings are of such an emergent nature that the radiologist will usually drop everything and immediately contact the ordering physician or his designee. As such, the RADAR radiology application has been designed specifically by a radiologist to address the uniqueness of this practice.

While RADAR can and should be used to document critical emergent findings (even after the fact so as to have documentation in the database for management and compliance reporting), the radiology module should excel in handling significant, unexpected findings as well as provide for both preliminary report reconciliation and the creation and tracking of recommended follow-up studies.

The RADAR radiology application is designed to:

• Allow the radiologist the ability to quickly and easily create an alert:
  • Red or Orange for critical finding
  • Yellow for significant, unexpected finding
  • Add a quick alert note, if desired
• Automatically send an alert email to designated recipient(s), with the priority of the alert
  • Assist in managing the alert communication according to the rules established:
  • Whom to contact from the primary all the way to the failsafe contact, if necessary
  • How each recipient is to be contacted with alternative methods if not reached
• Track completion of communication with escalating reminders as time lapses
  • Document every attempted and/or completed communication in a timeline of the alert
  • Permanently store closed alert timelines in database to produce an audit trail
  • Requires obtaining read-back (when required) to close alerts
• Provide preliminary report reconciliation (agree, disagree/ new report)
  • For preliminary reports, create alert if disagree and communicate to prelim interpreter
• Send reminders for recommended follow-up
  • For follow-up alerts, track and remind ordering physician shortly before follow-up date
• Automatically generate performance measurement reports for quality and risk management as well as Joint Commission and American College of Radiologists compliance
• Provide authorized clinicians, administrators, and managers 24/7 access to the complete database of open and closed alerts
• Reduce staff time in identifying recipients and successfully communicating with them or their designees