Improved prenatal detection of congenital heart disease in an integrated health care system.

The reported prenatal detection rates (PDRs) for significant congenital heart disease (sCHD) have been suboptimal, even in the current era. Changes in prenatal ultrasound policy and training may lead to improved prenatal detection of sCHD. This study analyzed the results of a policy to assess fetal cardiac outflow tracts shown by screening prenatal ultrasound using the electronic medical record (EMR). During a 6-year period, fetuses and patients younger than 1 year with sCHD were identified. The EMR was used to gather detection and outcome data. As an internal control within the same health care system, the PDR of only the surgical cases was compared with that of a similar group in which documentation of the fetal cardiac outflow tracts was not standard policy. Among 25,666 births, sCHD was identified in 93 fetuses or patients, yielding an incidence of 3.6 per 1,000 births. The PDR was 74.1%. Detection after birth but before discharge was 20.4%, and detection after discharge was 5.4%. A significant improvement in the PDR of sCHD was found when a concerted effort was made to obtain fetal cardiac outflow tract views during pregnancy screening (59.3 vs. 28%). Within an integrated health care system and with the use of an EMR, a PDR of 74% can be obtained, and 94% of sCHD can be detected before discharge. A concerted program that includes documentation of fetal cardiac outflow tracts in the pregnancy screening can result in improved PDR of sCHD.

Implementation of a teleradiology system to improve after-hours radiology services in kaiser permanente southern california.

Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) has implemented a teleradiology service to provide after-hours radiology services to its 11 medical centers from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am each day of the week. Features of the service include a Web application that is used to manage the workflow associated with teleradiology exams and to provide reports of the teleradiologists' findings to referring clinicians. Currently, two teleradiologists who can be located at any KPSC facility (varies from day to day) are used to provide preliminary interpretations of CT, MRI and ultrasound exams. However, the service is scalable and could be easily reconfigured to accommodate additional teleradiologists if needed. The service also includes a quality monitoring system that tracks significant discrepancies between the teleradiologist's findings and the subsequent final report of a medical center's staff radiologist. Clinicians who utilize the teleradiology service have been highly satisfied with the responsiveness of the service-median time between performance of an exam and availability of a wet read is 19 minutes.