Variables Influencing Radiology Volume Recovery During the Next Phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Variables Influencing Radiology Volume Recovery During the Next Phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jacr.2020.05.026
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发表时间：
2020-07-01
影响因子：
4.5
通讯作者：
Larson, David B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Madhuripan, Nikhil;Cheung, Helen M. C.;Larson, David B.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行减少了全国的放射量，因为提供者减少了选择性护理，以尽量减少感染的传播并释放医疗保健提供系统的能力。我们县发布居家令后，我们机构的成像量下降至基线量的约46%，与其他放射科实践的经验相似。鉴于不同地理区域疾病的严重程度和时间存在很大差异，估计放射学容量的恢复将是放射学实践的下一个主要挑战之一。我们假设有六个主要变量可能预测放射学量：（1）当地疾病的严重程度，包括潜在的后续感染“波”;（2）政府取消社交距离限制;（3）患者对离家进入成像设施风险的担忧;（4）管理在大流行病急性期延迟的被压抑的成像需求，包括机构能力;（5）经济衰退对医疗保险和支付成像费用能力的影响;以及（6）反映所执行的选择性成像的量的放射学实践概况，包括由放射学实践看到的患者类型，诸如急诊、住院、门诊混合和亚专科类型。我们鼓励放射学实践领导者使用这些和其他相关变量来规划未来几周，并与当地卫生系统和政府领导人合作，以帮助确保在环境安全允许的情况下尽快恢复所需的患者护理。
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reduced radiology volumes across the country as providers have decreased elective care to minimize the spread of infection and free up health care delivery system capacity. After the stay-at-home order was issued in our county, imaging volumes at our institution decreased to approximately 46% of baseline volumes, similar to the experience of other radiology practices. Given the substantial differences in severity and timing of the disease in different geographic regions, estimating resumption of radiology volumes will be one of the next major challenges for radiology practices. We hypothesize that there are six major variables that will likely predict radiology volumes: (1) severity of disease in the local region, including potential subsequent "waves" of infection; (2) lifting of government social distancing restrictions; (3) patient concern regarding risk of leaving home and entering imaging facilities; (4) management of pent-up demand for imaging delayed during the acute phase of the pandemic, including institutional capacity; (5) impact of the economic downturn on health insurance and ability to pay for imaging; and (6) radiology practice profile reflecting amount of elective imaging performed, including type of patients seen by the radiology practice such as emergency, inpatient, outpatient mix and subspecialty types. We encourage radiology practice leaders to use these and other relevant variables to plan for the coming weeks and to work collaboratively with local health system and governmental leaders to help ensure that needed patient care is restored as quickly as the environment will safely permit.