Radiology Trends that Will Define 2019

Looking back, in 2018, technological advancement in radiology was the hot topic at nearly every national conference in the industry. That’s a trend that has every indication of continuing in 2019. According to industry leaders, continued progress in AI will largely take center stage even if wide-spread implementation continues to lag. But, alongside this progress, one will likely see more emphasis on patient interaction and patient-centered care, as well as a changing educational landscape for residents. Over the next 12 months the industry is headed for:

Artificial intelligence
The verdict is out on just how much movement radiology might see with AI, deep learning, and machine learning in 2019. But there is a consensus among industry leaders that something will happen. The industry will see advancements in how AI improves image acquisition with MRI, CT, and PET/CT. By enhancing smaller amounts of data to be equivalent to larger data sets, he says, AI will likely hasten MRI imaging time, enhance CT resolution, and enable dose reduction with PET/CT. Acquiring AI tools could also become more convenient, as the number of AI applications continues to increase. AI technology is also moving toward a greater ability to identify changes over time in imaging studies. This advancement could be particularly helpful, with mammography studies. If AI can recognize disease progression early, then treatments and outcomes will improve.

Interoperability
Vendor-centric and stand-alone solutions will likely become less attractive to individual radiologists and groups in 2019. Companies that do not use open standards and who use protective software hold radiologists captive in silos. Providers will push back against these vendors so they do not have so much control.

Patient empowerment
The push toward more patient-centered care is not new, but 2019 will likely be the year when patients assume even more control over their radiology healthcare. Patients will take on more financial responsibility for their tests, and they are going to start doing their own research. They will make their own decisions about where they want to have their studies done. Consequently, practices and groups must become more acutely aware of how their costs compare with their peers.

Radiological divergence
The industry will continue to have different residency curricula, different clinical emphasis, and procedural work will be done less and less by diagnostic radiologists. It is hard to imagine how they would not continue to diverge. It does not mean that it is good or bad—one will just need to continue to work together to try to maintain relationships.

Challenges
Even with all the forward movement, the industry still faces challenges for the coming year.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks will be convincing referring clinicians that you are the experts with imaging and should be able to communicate directly with patients. Many ordering providers are reluctant to cede that control, so overcoming the barrier will take effort at both the national and grass-roots level.

Additionally, the industry could see the perfect storm of increasing utilization and decreasing reimbursement. Even with all the forward movement, the industry still faces challenges for the coming year.

If that happens, it will continue the vicious cycle of having to do more work to get the same bottom line. And, because value-based reimbursement has not happened as quickly as experts thought, if cuts in payment continue, one might go further down the workload cycle experts have been seeing since 2008-2009.

Ultimately, 2019 should be a year when radiology focuses on shorter-term goals that can be more readily accomplished. 2019 is the year one could refocus on what is important now and make changes for now. Keep an eye on the long game. Diagnostic Imaging