Improving the communication of critical results in radiology imaging studies and procedures using PeerVue Software

We are currently working on a grant-funded project to improve the communication of critical results in radiology imaging studies and procedures using PeerVue Software. Previously, our radiologists manually inputted a “*+*Critical Result” tag at the end of a report that was deemed an actionable finding, or one that required special communication to the ordering physician. In some cases, because of the nature of the system, critical results were not properly delivered, and this type of failure of communication can result in negative consequences for patient care, healthcare costs, and provider liability. Types of noncompliance include failure to communicate the critical result, improper documentation of the communication, and improper method of communication. We began to address these issues in October 2014 with the implementation of PeerVue, a software program with many features including a way to  more efficiently communicate critical results. Tracking data over a two year period, we discovered that with the implementation of PeerVue, there has been a 34% increase in the reporting of actionable findings. Although this increase underscores the benefits of the new system, there is still room for improvement; the utilization rate of PeerVue for the recording of actionable findings is only 57%, with the rest of the actionable findings still inputted under the previous *+* tagging system. Teaming with analysts in quantitative health sciences, we are now working on further evaluating our existing conditions by identifying key words and phrases in radiology reports to ensure that they are correctly categorized, recorded, and delivered to the responsible clinical provider. We are working toward publishing our results and we are hopeful that the details of our work will help provide a basis for future advancements as it relates to critical results communication.