Throughput has always been an issue for the busy outpatient orthopedic practice at Rhode Island Hospital (RIH). “We wanted to be in a position to be more productive,” says Ted Lombardo, director of imaging operations at RIH. He explains that the orthopedic department’s x-ray rooms have to accommodate as many as 25 patients an hour during peak times. “When you get that extra case blast, which we get at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. most days, you need to be able to handle it,” he explains.

To increase productivity and throughput, RIH recently added to its roster of four CR analog rooms an FDR D-EVO room from Fujifilm Medical Systems, converting one room from analog to digital. The decision was partially driven by RIH’s past experience with Fujifilm CR; Lombardo explains, “The logical choice was to get that interface again to make the learning curve easy.” Following installation of the D-EVO room, RIH began a short trial of the technology that ended with staff choosing to use it over other rooms. “The staff adapted easily,” Lombardo says.

With the D-EVO room, RIH’s orthopedic practice commenced its transition to digital imaging — a transition that is essential to improving staff productivity, Lombardo says. “With analog, staff members wind up carrying cassettes around, and carrying them all the way back if they have to do repeats,” he notes. “It’s not the most efficient use of their time.”

Improvements in staff productivity, of course, are linked to improvements in throughput — even at the high-volume hours the orthopedic department faces each day. “You can’t simply ramp up staff for an hour to handle those peaks,” Lombardo says. “With digital, you can spread out staff, knowing you have this extra capacity to handle that extra volume.” Preliminary analysis by the team at RIH indicates that the D-EVO room handles an average of 57% more studies than its analog neighbors.

The team at RIH has been so impressed with the D-EVO room since its installation in the orthopedic department that Lombardo ordered four more: another for orthopedic, one for the pediatric ED, and two for the main radiology department. “Based on the successful experience we’ve had in orthopedics, we’re able to move forward with more installations,” he says. “I’m putting it into other high-utilization areas. We hope to market it based on its speed, low dose and image quality.”

Indeed, image quality has proven to exceed expectations in the orthopedic department. “The system uses less radiation dose, and the digital software offers the same consistency as the CR software,” Lombardo says. “But most importantly, I’ve had a couple of unsolicited calls from the orthopods commenting that the image quality is great.”

Finally, Lombardo notes, as CMS moves toward linking payment not just to outcomes, but also to patient satisfaction, the improved throughput enabled by the D-EVO will help keep customers happy. “When patients have to wait, your customer service numbers go down, and they’re going to start paying us based on service,” he says. “So we’re all focused on improving that experience as well. The theme in the industry right now is to do more with less.”