On Demand: Improving Access and Throughput in a Community Setting Using Advanced Cardiac Imaging-Presentation Slides

Presentation Slides

Pdf Summary

The document is a presentation on improving access and throughput in community settings using advanced cardiac imaging, particularly Cardiac CT Angiography (CCTA). Presented by Dr. Yaz Daaboul and Dr. Matthew Shotwell from Harrison Memorial, it highlights the challenges faced by rural hospitals in the USA, such as limited access to specialists, healthcare staff shortages, lack of advanced diagnostic modalities, and delayed response times. These hospitals face educational, regulatory, and reimbursement challenges.<br /><br />The presentation posits CCTA as an unmet need in rural areas, offering timely diagnosis, reducing dependence on patient transfers, enhancing preventative care, improving quality, and cutting healthcare costs, ultimately building community trust. However, initiating a CCTA program comes with hurdles like high equipment costs, ongoing maintenance, and staffing needs, alongside limited reimbursement and patient volume.<br /><br />The number of CCTA providers is growing, albeit slowly. Benefits of CCTA are underscored by studies showing superior detection rates of cardiac events compared to other modalities. A five-step guide to initiating a CCTA program at rural hospitals is proposed: <br /><br />1. Needs assessment and budgeting.<br />2. Acquiring equipment.<br />3. Staff recruitment and protocol development.<br />4. Developing partnerships and community outreach.<br />5. Program launch, quality monitoring, and scaling.<br /><br />It addresses perceived issues like patient volume and reimbursement. The presentation indicates an increase in Medicare reimbursement for CCTA starting in 2025, making the financial aspect more viable. Data from Harrison Memorial's CCTA program, which launched in November 2022, provide evidence of growth in patient volume over time. The document closes with a Q&A session with the presenting doctors.

Keywords

Cardiac CT Angiography

CCTA

rural hospitals

healthcare access

diagnostic imaging

program implementation

Medicare reimbursement

Harrison Memorial

community outreach

healthcare cost reduction