MINNEAPOLIS, MN — (August 24, 2016) — vRad (Virtual Radiologic), a MEDNAX, Inc. (NYSE: MD) company and the nation's leading teleradiology services and telemedicine company, announced that it has enhanced and updated its RPCSM (Radiology Patient Care) Indices, the first findings-based national radiology benchmarking metrics, available at http://www.vrad.com/infographic/. The RPC Indices are derived from vRad's clinical database of imaging studies from over 2,100 facilities in all 50 states. vRad's database is a national projection of the U.S. market; the RPC Indices are aggregated from radiology studies normalized on key variables including patient age, gender, body region, geography, hospital and IDN type, bed size, modality, reasons for study order, and findings status. The RPC Indices are a "living library" of statistically significant metrics that provide hospitals, radiology groups and health systems with objective comparisons of their use of imaging to national averages and relevant peer groups. vRad is making these indices available for free and unrestricted use.

vRad has expanded the RPC Indices to include five years of data, from 2011 to 2015. Furthermore, vRad enhanced the precision of RPC findings definitions using natural language processing (NLP) to differentiate between positive, critical, incidental, negative and/or normal findings.

"Measuring healthcare performance and proving quality and value requires data and analytics. Using a normalized data set allows radiology groups and hospitals to objectively compare their own use of imaging to relevant peer groups," said Shannon Werb, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer of vRad. "These comparisons empower radiology to take control of the dialogue around quality as it moves from a fee-for-volume to fee-for-value world. Tools like vRad's RPC Indices help radiology build bridges and get alignment with physician and hospital partners — reinforced with evidence, not opinions."
The RPC Indices are part of the vRad Analytics continuum that helps hospitals better manage costs and improve operating efficiencies, and radiology groups demonstrate a new level of leadership and value in a challenging healthcare environment. The enhanced RPC Indices, available online for non-vRad clients, include three complimentary, interactive radiology infographics:

Use and effectiveness of CT in the Emergency Department (ED), which allows for insight into the effectiveness of CT imaging based on Patient Age, Patient Body Region, Hospital Geography and Hospital Facility Size. Hospitals, health systems and radiology departments can compare their usage of CT imaging in the ED to similar organizations across the U.S.

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