Unprecedented growth revealed a need for more efficiency and consistency
St. Luke's was looking for a way to harmonize imaging and improve efficiency in every network facility. To standardize and streamline its ultrasound fleet across these service areas, St. Luke's purchased 76 ultrasound systems from GE Healthcare, which included LOGIQ E10, Vivid E95, and Vscan Extend.
“This raises the bar of imaging and ultrasound to a level not seen in the US on such a scale. There's not a single institution that has done this big of a replacement investment in patient care with ultrasound,” said Laurie Sebastiano, MD, Section Chief of Ultrasound, St Luke's University Health Network.
Leveraging integrated AI to speed diagnosis
The LOGIQ E10, a high-end radiology ultrasound system, enables 48 times the data throughput and 10 times the processing power of previous systems. With its advanced algorithms, radiologists in the network will now segment lesions and identify vessels more easily. Radiologists will also leverage its integrated AI platforms to arrive at diagnoses earlier and ensure better outcomes for patients.
The Vivid E95 is an AI-powered premium 4D cardiovascular ultrasound system with software beamformer platform – cSound 3.0. Its enhanced 2D and color image quality will help radiologists diagnose confidently, and its extended automatic Doppler measurements for TEE and TTE should serve to accelerate exam time. The Vivid E95’s advanced capabilities provides reproducible results for quantifying heart function and ejection fraction.
Vscan Extend is a handheld, pocket-sized dual-probe ultrasound system that will enable clinicians to make focused assessments and accelerate treatment decisions at the point of care.
Clinical versatility expands efficiencies
These devices aren’t just limited to use in radiology. Offering radiology, vascular, breast, interventional, musculoskeletal, cardiac, and Ob-Gyn applications, LOGIQ ultrasound systems can help care for a wide range of patients. Vscan Extend can be used across multiple specialties as well, including cardiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine, primary care, urology, women’s health, musculoskeletal, and medical school education.
“For cardiologists, they’ll use these devices to look at the heart, and the vascular surgeons will use them to look at the great vessels in the legs for clots and at the carotid arteries to look for risk for strokes. It’s really going to be a broad spectrum of imaging of all parts of the body,” Sebastiano says.
Automated ultrasound reporting and post-processing
The ultrasound equipment acquired—LOGIQ E10s and Vivid E95s—will be connected to ViewPoint 6, GE Healthcare’s automated reporting and post-processing system. Ultrasound exams typically require numerous measurements that need to be included in the final report. Many radiologists resort to dictating these data points from handwritten sonographer worksheets scanned into the PACS. With ViewPoint 6, however, ultrasound measurements and report details are autopopulated directly into the dictation system in use.
The positive financial impact of efficiency gains
The implementation of ViewPoint 6 is projected to save the health network an estimated $300,000 annually in radiologist efficiency gains.
Leveraging integrated AI to speed diagnosis and automating ultrasound reporting and post-processing will bring consistency to the ultrasound systems across the network. Facilitating accurate replication of patient images is now more efficient than when staff are working with different brands.
Hear St. Luke’s Section Chief of Ultrasound describe the impact this technology will have on clinicians and patients.
