SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CCGroup is pleased to announce that Virginia Mason Medical Center (Virginia Mason) in Seattle, Wash. continues to practice in the appropriate Clinical MedMarker™ Protocol Range for utilizing MRI of Spine in diagnostics for routine, non-complicated low back pain (LBP) patient episodes-of-care.
This news is not surprising to Robert Mecklenburg, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Healthcare Solutions at Virginia Mason. “In 2005, the medical center pursued efficiency in its spine clinic by adopting systems engineering methods of Toyota Motor Corp. As we published in the Wall Street Journal in 2007, back pain patients now follow a more standardized path. They have an initial combined visit with a physical therapist and a doctor,” Dr. Mecklenburg said. “We developed evidence-based decision rules and embedded them in the scheduling process for radiology. If the provider could not document the evidence-based indication for the imaging study on the scheduling screen, then the test could not be ordered.” He continued, “Within a year, the imaging rate of MRI of Spine decreased 23% across the enterprise.” Continue reading