Punxsutawney Area Hospital Utilizes PowerLook® Density Assessment to Improve Breast Density Reporting Accuracy and Quality of Care
Jason Stiver
Radiology Department Manager, Punxsutawney Area Hospital, PA
Challenge:
Inability to consistently provide accurate breast density results, especially for patients with subsequent mammograms.
Current solution was not providing consistent, reproducible results, causing frustration amongst radiology.
Mandates from state of Pennsylvania requiring hospitals to inform patients of breast density values.
Solution:
PowerLook® Density Assessment
Results:
Able to quickly provide better quality of care to patients through reliable breast density results.
Capable of consistently reproducing results for patients with subsequent mammograms.
Achieved an increase in overall ROI for the hospital.
The Story of Punxsutawney Area Hospital
For over 100 years, Punxsutawney Area Hospital (PAH) has been committed to providing the best care for patients in the three-county area of western Pennsylvania. The 49-bed rural hospital sees about 17,000 patients per year with its radiologists reading approximately 225 mammograms each month.
PowerLook® Density Assessment takes all the guess work out of determining breast density. If any other facility wants the most accurate and reliable software for its patients, look no further than PowerLook Density Assessment. – Jason Stiver, Radiology Department Manager at Punxsutawney Area Hospital
Questioning Effectiveness & Accuracy
With its patients always remaining a top priority, PAH first implemented a volumetric breast density solution over three years ago to help standardize the assessment of reporting breast density. Although breast density can change as a woman ages, the hospital realized the previous solution was providing inconsistent results on patients whose tissue appeared unchanged.
“We had instances where a patient would have a mammogram screening and receive a breast density value from our previous vendor software only to come back for a follow up and receive a completely different number,” said Jason Stiver, radiology department manager at PAH.
Not only was this technology costing the hospital valuable dollars each month, more importantly, it was not assisting PAH’s radiologist in providing top of the line care – its sole intended purpose,” Stiver recalls.
Taking an Appearance-Based Approach
In the state of Pennsylvania, hospitals are required by law to inform patients of their breast density values. However, they are not required to have an actual software program for calculating breast density. Despite the issues with its former technology, PAH still recognized the value in having a breast density software solution in conjunction with its radiologist’s expert opinion to ensure legal compliance. Therefore, the hospital and its radiologist soon went on a search to find the most accurate solution possible. In October 2015, PAH implemented iCAD’s PowerLook Density Assessment at its facility.
With “literally no learning curve” according to Stiver, PAH was up and running on PowerLook Density Assessment within a day. “There was no user training required. It’s all very point blank and automated and gives you all the data you need,” he said. In addition to the seamless integration, PAH’s radiologist was also able to quickly provide his patients with a more accurate diagnoses and better quality care with PowerLook Density Assessment’s “appearance-based” approach.
“I am extremely pleased with PowerLook Density Assessment, as the solution’s clinical support decision scorecard is extremely accurate and helps me make more informed decisions,” said PAH’s radiologist, Dr. Omar Khalaf Al-Tawil. “For example, if a patient’s scan comes back in between two possible categories and I have to make an executive decision on whether to report the density as one or the other, I can refer to the plus/minus scale on the PowerLook Density Assessment reveal score and get a clearer picture on which way the result is leaning.”
Benefits for All
PAH has already seen great benefits. It is confident that its health IT investment is generating a positive ROI and can consistently provide first time and follow up patients with accurate breast density results. Further, when marketing itself to referring providers in the community, the hospital always mentions that in conjunction with its 3-D mammography it is also utilizing the most accurate breast technology on the market.
When reflecting back on the impact that PowerLook Density Assessment has made on PAH Stiver recalls, “PowerLook Density Assessment takes all the guess work out of determining breast density. If any other facility wants the most accurate and reliable software for its patients, look no further than PowerLook Density Assessment.”
Disclaimer: This case study represents the experience and position of the clinician and doesn’t represent the opinions of iCAD, Inc. Clinicians referenced in the study are responsible for the accuracy of provided data. Refer to the device user manual for detailed product information. To request a copy of the device user manual, please contact iCAD, Inc.