RSNA 2012 - The Use of Business Analytics for Improving Radiology Operations, Quality, and Clinical Performance

Data needed for business analytics for radiology is distributed over many different source systems (RIS, PACS, IHE, etc, etc). The data in those systems can provide vital information. However, to use this information we have to be able to gather and combine this information in an easy and fast manner.
Leveraging informatics tools such as business analytics can help a practice transform its service delivery to improve performance, productivity and quality. BA tools can be used for quality assurance, maintenance of certification (MOC) and pracitce quality improvement (PQI).
The general steps involved in business analytics, include extract, transform, load (ETL) and key performance indicators (KPI). BI involves: Aggregation, Integration (ETL), Storage (data warehouse), Analysis(OLAP, data mining), and Presentation. Relational databases are concerted to an OLAP configuration to allow fast data searching and analytics.
Before starting with Business Analytics, the goals and metrics needed to achieve those goals need to be defined.

Business intelligence maturity from least to most mature:
1. Standard reports
2. Ad hoc reports
3. Drilldown
4. Alerts
5. Statistical analysis
6. Forecasting
7. Pre modeling

- Business intelligence tools can leverage radiology systems' utility and empower executive decisions.
- The selection of the most appropriate KPIs are critical.