Optimizing modality operations.

A successful imaging outcome for a patient requires that each step of the workflow, from examination request to timely communication of actionable information, be optimized in order to deliver maximal quality, safety, and patient satisfaction. This series uses the concept of the imaging value chain to understand how this can best be achieved. The prior article discussed imaging protocol optimization, which has a direct impact on the successful management of modality workflow and operations, the focus of this article. Optimizing modality operations can be viewed from the perspective of both the institution and the patient. Under increasingly patient-centered, value-focused delivery systems, patient satisfactionwill becomeadecisive metric and likely a determinant of provider and facility payment. Heretofore, health care has lagged behind other industries by not truly appreciating patients as “customers.” Patients often tolerate prolonged waiting times when scheduling and receiving health care services—deliverables consumers would rarely tolerate when purchasing other goods or services. Such details are important because the scheduling and performance of an examination are often the first direct experience a patient has with radiologists. To optimize modality operations, it will becomean essential imperative to view value from the patient’s perspective. From the institutional perspective, optimization ofmodality operations is complex given the mix of patients in different locations with different acuity of illnesses being serviced by complex equipment run by a variety of operators. Given the expensive nature of imaging technology, a goal of the operations should be the provision of examinations of uniform high quality irrespective of equipment, operator, or time of an examination. As much as