Earlier this month at this year’s RSNA 2024 conference, Steve Rankin participated in a thought-provoking panel discussion on ‘How Simplifying Interoperability Is Key To Successfully Unlocking The Value Of AI Across The Healthcare Enterprise’ at the Blackford Calantic AI Theater. The panel, held on Tuesday, December 3rd, brought together industry experts to explore the transformative potential of AI in radiology.
Rankin emphasized the critical importance of data standardization in healthcare:
“One of the longstanding issues is, as data flows through a system, it’s unpredictable. People are using different terminology to describe different things. As a result, people aren’t understanding the data, the data they give is never stood.”
He highlighted how this inconsistency leads to integration failures and inefficiencies across healthcare systems. Rankin then outlined the solution:
“So one of the things that we seek to fix is to take that data. Standardize it. And as a closed throughout the different systems in the terminology they would expect. And so now things are flowing as we would expect them.”
Addressing the challenges of implementing AI in radiology workflows, Rankin noted:
“How do you get a particular series from a particular CT study to the exact AI algorithm that you need? That’s tough to do today. The terminology is changing it. It’s you’re writing scripts that, if, then, else, on a Sunday, if this is this… and these scripts that try to work with the bad data over time fail as terminology starts to change.”
He emphasized the importance of data clarity and control:
“The idea of having full control of your data rather than the data controlling you is important. But we recognize that data quality is a tough sell. It’s these types of workflows that are exciting.”
Rankin concluded by highlighting the broader impact of standardized data in healthcare:
“Clarity of data does so much. … hospitals and health care stakeholders can then build innovative workflows on top of data that is not shifting. It is predictable. And those innovations that they’re trying to create, whether they’re operational, financial or otherwise, are now sustainable.”
Are you facing challenges with healthcare data workflows? Our team offers free consultations to help optimize your radiology processes and AI integration. Contact us today to schedule a meeting and discover how we can enhance your healthcare data management.
