Download CAD technology enhances patient care at Catholic

SecondLook Digital
CAD technology enhances patient
care at Catholic Medical Center.
®
Catholic Medical Center has served the Manchester, NH community for more than 100 years. As a 330-bed,
full-service health care facility with more than 25 subspecialties, Catholic Medical Center is committed to
providing the utmost in specialized medical care.
As a leader in innovative, quality health care, Catholic Medical Center continually looks for ways to provide
its patients with the most advanced medical technologies available. Its healthcare practitioners made
great strides towards providing some 50,000 local area women access to a focused, managed center to
address their breast health needs with the foundation of the facility’s Breast Care Center in April 2005.
Customer Testimonial
Prior to adopting a Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) solution for the early identification of breast
cancer, hospital radiologists spent an extended amount of time performing multiple reads of patients’
mammograms. This was both costly and time consuming. To address this issue the hospital worked with
iCAD, Inc. to bring the most clinically relevant solution available to the facility. In April 2003 the hospital
implemented iCAD’s MammoReader II film-based system, upgrading to the Company’s SecondLook®
Digital and TotalLook® solutions in 2005 when the Breast Care Center converted to 100% digital for breast
imaging studies. Implementing this new technology at the facility’s Breast Care Center greatly reduced
screening time for patients and increased the Center’s revenue.
The Solution
Selecting a CAD system from iCAD was an easy decision for administrators at Catholic Medical Center.
By helping radiologists detect up to 72% of actionable missed cancers an average of 15 months earlier
than screening mammography alone, iCAD’s SecondLook CAD systems enhance performance, improve
patient confidence and reduce variability due to fatigue, distraction or workload. Furthermore, as the only
independent, integrated CAD software and digitizer hardware company, iCAD is able to reduce costs at
each stage of the design, production and assembly process.
“We wanted to buy a CAD solution from a company that would continue to innovate and enhance its
products so we could consistently offer our patients leading edge technology,” said Michael Cloutier,
Manager of Technical Services at Catholic Medical Center. “iCAD’s systems offered the advanced
functionality we wanted whereas competitive systems we looked at did not. They also enabled us to speed
our workflow.”
Business Benefits
iCAD’s SecondLook Digital system has helped Catholic Medical Center achieve its goal of providing
patients with the most advanced offerings in breast health technology. “We wanted a solution that would be
both cost effective for the facility and for its patients,” explained Cloutier. “We were looking for a flexible,
innovative and efficient solution and we found that in iCAD’s SecondLook Digital system.”
Catholic Medical Center prides itself on offering its breast health patients personal attention. According to
Cloutier, the Center typically standardizes on a core staffing of 3-4 individual radiologists. Catholic Medical
Center has been able to maintain this stable working environment by utilizing CAD technology.
“Radiologists increased exposure to the iCAD product allowed for better on-site training and higher acceptance
of the ability of CAD to help detect breast cancer earlier,” Cloutier said. “This ensures that our breast health
patients not only receive personalized attention from trained staff, but more importantly, that they receive the
best in advanced medical care.”
Financial Benefits
CAD is described by leading health insurance providers in the United States as a ‘standard of care’ in large
radiology practices and a ‘medically necessary adjunct to mammography’. As such, one factor which contributed
largely to Catholic Medical Center’s decision to purchase iCAD’s SecondLook system was the increased
reimbursement for utilizing CAD technology. “Reimbursement actually exceeded costs,” Cloutier pointed out.
“That is rare in imaging and even less so in mammography.”
Technology Benefits
Initially, it was thought by hospital radiologists that CAD did not differ greatly from one technology to the
next. However, after an informative training period, radiologists soon realized that iCAD marked suspicious
calcifications and carcinomas differently than other CAD systems. To date there are numerous peer-reviewed
studies that confirm CAD technology finds more cancers earlier.
“SecondLook provides radiologists the most effective CAD technology that is designed to distinguish cancers
from other anomalies in the breast,” explained Dr. David Fontaine, Section Chief Department of Diagnostic
Imaging at Catholic Medical Center and Physician Director of the Breast Care Center at Catholic Medical. “The
CAD algorithm identifies areas that need further investigation by circling areas of interest on the image. By
identifying all areas of interest, it allows the radiologist to give a more thorough examination which leads to the
earlier detection of cancer.”
iCAD’s technology also allows radiologists to access mammographic images months after they have been
scanned. At the time of installation, iCAD was the only company which was storing images to the hard drive of
their computer, allowing radiologists to look at images even after several months.
“Being able to access past images is a strategic advantage,” said Dr. Fontaine. “As women get their annual
mammogram, doctors can compare their breast tissue over the years to identify areas that may have changed
or developed differently. iCAD’s SecondLook systems allow us to provide our patients with this advantage.”
In addition to its advanced features, the installation process was simple and seamless. “We could not have
asked for a more effective solution for this facility,” Cloutier said. “Upon review of competitive technologies,
we found iCAD was simply better. As a result, we are now using the iCAD’s new TotalLook offering – a film-todigital solution that enables us to convert priors for comparative soft copy reads.”
The iCAD TotalLook system has actually been a contributor in increasing patient volumes in mammography.
Although we were first in our primary market area to adopt digital mammography, there are now other centers
offering the service. We explain to prospective and new patients that we not only perform digital mammography
but will digitize their prior analog images and present them in a digital environment for the radiologist. This
allows the radiologist to view the current and prior exam in a digital format.
Summary
With the ability to provide enhanced detection at a decreased cost, the SecondLook systems from iCAD,
Inc. noticeably improved patient care at Catholic Medical Center. “We are confident in our choice and
reached our goal of providing the most clinically sophisticated technology to our breast care center
patients.” Dr. Fontaine concluded.
98 Spit Brook Road, Suite 100 Nashua, NH 03062
+1 866 280 2239 toll free
+1 937 431 1464 phone
[email protected] email
www.icadmed.com
© 2009 iCAD, Inc. All rights reserved. iCAD, the iCAD logo, Never Stop Looking, SecondLook and TotalLook are registered trademarks and MammoAdvantage is a pending
trademark of iCAD, Inc. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
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