Web Applications for Patient Communication.

Communication between imaging professionals and patients can help achieve many goals, including improved patient understanding of imaging-related diagnostic and treatment options, better compliance with appropriate imaging screening procedures, and improved efficiency of service. The explosive growth of out-of-pocket consumer spending on health care has heightened health care shopping, thus making patient communication an important goal of any imaging practice or health care organization. Furthermore, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System introduced by CMS will publicly disclose physicians' quality ratings, which are in part dependent on patient engagement.

Let's Use Cognitive Science to Create Collaborative Workstations.

When informed by an understanding of cognitive science, radiologists' workstations could become collaborative to improve radiologists' performance and job satisfaction. The authors review relevant literature and present several promising areas of research, including image toggling, eye tracking, cognitive computing, intelligently restricted messaging, work habit tracking, and innovative input devices. The authors call for more research in "perceptual design," a promising field that can complement advances in computer-aided detection.

Image toggling saves time in mammography.

When two images are perfectly aligned, even subtle differences are readily detected when the images are "toggled" back and forth in the same location. However, substantial changes between two photographs can be missed if the images are misaligned ("change blindness"). Nevertheless, recent work from our lab, testing nonradiologists, suggests that toggling misaligned photographs leads to superior performance compared to side-by-side viewing (SBS).

Implementation of Certified EHR, Patient Portal, and "Direct" Messaging Technology in a Radiology Environment Enhances Communication of Radiology Results to Both Referring Physicians and Patients.

Since 2009, the Federal government distributed over $29 billion to providers who were adopting compliant electronic health record (EHR) technology. With a focus on radiology, we explore how EHR technology impacts interoperability with referring clinicians' EHRs and patient engagement. We also discuss the high-level details of contributing supporting frameworks, specifically Direct messaging and health information service provider (HISP) technology.

A prospective clinical study to evaluate the safety and performance of wireless localization of nonpalpable breast lesions using radiofrequency identification technology.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and performance of localizing nonpalpable breast lesions using radiofrequency identification technology.

Subjects And Methods: Twenty consecutive women requiring preoperative localization of a breast lesion were recruited. Subjects underwent placement of both a hook wire and a radiofrequency identification tag immediately before surgery.

Evaluation of lossy data compression in primary interpretation for full-field digital mammography.

OBJECTIVE. For full-field digital mammography (FFDM), federal regulations prohibit lossy data compression for primary reading and archiving, unlike all other medical images, where reading physicians can apply their professional judgment in implementing lossy compression. Faster image transfer, lower costs, and greater access to expert mammographers would result from development of a safe standard for primary interpretation and archive of lossy-compressed FFDM images.

Meaningful use in radiology.

With an estimated $1.5 billion in potential stimulus bonus payments for radiologist professionals at stake, and penalties looming farther down the road, radiologists would be wise to study and respond to recent federal regulations related to meaningful use of complete certified ambulatory electronic health records and their equivalents. Many radiologists mistakenly believe that they were "left out" of the meaningful use rewards or that compliance is technically impractical.

Radiofrequency identification tags for preoperative tumor localization: proof of concept.

Objective: The objective of our study was to experimentally explore the potential for tumor localization using radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags and a newly developed handheld RFID detector.

Materials And Methods: A unique RFID detector that combines the use of multiple interchangeable detector probes with both audio and LCD display signals was invented, allowing precise localization and identification of RFID tags. Accurate localization and identification were validated using this handheld RFID detector (TagFinder) and RFID tags of 2-mm diameter and 8- or 12-mm lengths.