The COVID-19 crisis has drastically altered radiologists’ and pathologists’ ways of working. With a large portion of these providers now being ordered to work remotely, many are struggling to translate their everyday workflows - including ways of collaborating on cases - to their home offices. COVID-19 has nearly every aspect of healthcare in a scramble, including IT departments, with little time to build or strengthen the technical infrastructure necessary to allow business and patient care to continue as usual, but remotely.

Despite COVID-19, radiology and pathology departments are still expected to continue to deliver quality care, excellent patient and staff experiences, and cut costs where possible. Undoubtedly, this is a never-before-seen challenge that is evolving every day. As you define a “new normal” workday with limited disruption to care delivery, know that Philips is your partner to help ensure your remote digital transformation is successful and has the wellbeing of your patients, staff and business in mind. Together, we can help alleviate some of the burdens this pandemic brings, maintain diagnostic confidence from our homes, and establish a new sense of normalcy for radiologists and pathologists during an uncertain time.

Activating remote reading
As an IT leader, you face an overwhelming responsibility to activate the technical support the diagnostic service lines need to effectively collaborate across various functions such as such as nurses, lab technologists and emergency physicians.  You also need to ensure data is securely stored, accessed and shared across both remote and on-site teams without disruption. As you work to maintain business continuity, we understand the increased risk of patient privacy intrusions and cyberattacks are at the forefront of your mind. Philips can help empower pathologists and radiologists working from home to manage their case load, collaborate securely, and prevent any delays to critical patient care. By combining efficiency, quality and artificial intelligence (AI), advanced virtual radiology and pathology solutions allow them to focus more on making confident diagnoses and less on technical processes.

Before COVID-19, radiology was already becoming increasingly decentralized, with teleradiology evolving to be a standard for everyday image reading. With AI as a key driver behind teleradiology, it is possible to acquire high-quality images during the first scan for secure review remotely and then communicate effortlessly with referring physicians, accelerating workflows and ultimately treatment. Organizations can also recognize a radiologist’s availability and re-route cases to the next expert in the queue if needed. At Philips, we are dedicated to supporting how our care teams work.

Our solutions that activate remote reading for pathologists recently received an FDA exemption to offer pathologists working from home more flexibility to use their own consumer monitors immediately, empowering them to review and interpret digital images with the same confidence that they have when in the office. By powering care decisions through a seamless virtual network, we are able to link providers and their patients cross-departmentally, regardless of location.