Value Partnerships in HealthcareWorking together to achieve operational excellence and improve care delivery

Our work with MUSC continues to optimize performance and operations in focused target areas including pediatrics, cardiovascular care, radiology, and neurosciences. Advanced technology has been a top priority as we launched a state-of-the-art hybrid operating room, and installed the NAEOTOM Alpha CT system, the world’s first photon-counting CT.

Addressing the growing shortage of qualified service engineers, we helped secure $2.6 million in state funding to co-develop one of the first online certification programs for clinical engineering. The curriculum will help develop the pipeline of skilled technicians to service medical equipment, including CT and MR scanners. 

“One of the program’s goals is to offer both traditional and non-traditional students the opportunity to enroll, regardless of where they are. That includes current and future MU students, military veterans, community college graduates and professionals seeking continuing education opportunities. 

We want to enable as many people as possible to develop skills that are in high demand right now in the industry. That means allowing students to earn the certificate from their hometowns and to continue to live and work in their communities once they complete the program.” 

- Steve Devlin, Former Program Director and Assistant Dean, College of Engineering, University of Missouri

To expand the skill set of in-house radiologic technologists, we implemented FlexForce Coach, a training program to supply an expert technologist instructor on campus for one week per month. The imaging staff was upskilled in complex tasks like 3D post-processing for CT, which has since been transitioned from outsourced work to an in-house capability. Using syngo.via, WakeMed was able to consolidate processing systems and build its own 3D lab, recording significant cost savings.

“Our shared vision [with Siemens Healthineers] for the future helps us accelerate innovation and support positive health outcomes for our over one million patient visits per year.”

- Charles Harr, MD, Chief Medical Officer for WakeMed Raleigh Campus and cardiothoracic surgeon

SSM Health has joined forces with Siemens Healthineers on several initiatives aiming to increase awareness of and interest in healthcare careers among young professionals in the community. The organizations will address the pressing shortage of radiologic technologists by implementing local imaging apprenticeship programs in collaboration with community partners, including the The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. These programs will expand employment opportunities, provide training, and foster mentorship for local youth through the Urban League’s Save Our Sons & Save Our Sisters initiatives.

Together, MUSC and Siemens Healthineers implemented a solution for perioperative management in the Charleston division. The solution, based on the LeanTaaS platform, is bringing much-needed transparency and standardization to managing these spaces, with the goal of expansion across the MUSC network.

Early success has engendered trust among the staff who use the LeanTaaS system, and it has also improved financial outcomes for MUSC and enabled more patients to receive the care they need in a timely manner.

Initial operational impact of the LeanTaaS solution

• 27 service lines are managing newly available OR time through automated workflows
• Orthopedic service line alone released 650+ block hours within the first 90 days
• Average 72-day lead time for block-time release

Geisinger is leveraging artificial intelligence, digital technology and expert training to ensure that every site that provides radiology services delivers the same high standard of care throughout the entire network. This standardization effort is complemented by an enterprise-wide initiative to streamline clinical operations in radiology and provide all patients with equal access to high-quality care, regardless of where that care is delivered. 

In this video, Aalpen Patel, MD, MBA, FSIR, Chair, Department of Radiology and Medical Director for Artificial Intelligence, and Sean Szmal, Senior Director, Radiology Administration, discuss how our Value Partnership has allowed them to develop innovative ways to deliver patient care and improve operations for their clinical teams. 

Our Value Partnership with UM System and MU Health Care saw the first U.S. installation of syngo Virtual Cockpit to connect with a non-network facility: Midwest Transplant Network's Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit. This connection enables an expert technologist at MU Health Care to run CT exams at MTN remotely, eliminating the need for an onsite or on-call technologist and boosting the speed with which MTN can assess the viability of and harvest potentially lifesaving organs for transplant. 

“Because of this collaboration, patients’ lives will be saved through transplantation and our donors are truly able to leave a legacy of hope. ‘ Thank you’ just doesn’t seem to be quite enough!”

-    Lori Markham, RN, MSN, CCRN-K Vice President & Chief Clinical Officer, Midwest Transplant Network 

Geisinger is leveraging operational innovations to streamline and standardize care delivery, enabling the health system to expand access to quality care across the network. Key pieces of the strategy include the implementation of:

• AI-Rad Companion - leveraging artificial intelligence to read scans and identify potential areas of interest for further review
• teamplay - streamlining operations and increasing productivity through performance management
• syngo Virtual Cockpit - helping to improve patient access and consistency of results—1,000+ additional appointment slots made available since 2018
• FlexForce® Coach - a staff development and performance solution to optimize protocols and workflows

Through a shared dedication to clinical and operational excellence, this Value Partnership aims to further enhance quality, efficiency and access to diagnostic and imaging services for communities across SSM Health’s four-state service area, which includes Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. 

To help advance health equity, the organizations will also jointly invest in programs that expand early detection and management of chronic disease for underserved and vulnerable individuals in the communities SSM Health serves, both urban and rural.

“We believe in the transformative power of technologies like artificial intelligence to support us and our mission, ensuring that all residents have better access to the care that they deserve.”

- Misty Jones, MBA, MSN, RN, Chief Operating Officer, SSM Health Saint Mary’s Hospital and Saint Louis University Hospital

Hear Misty Jones and other healthcare leaders discuss how they are working with Siemens Healthineers to expand access to care in this video from our Shape 24 Spotlight.

The Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Institute is equipped with the latest technology to offer advanced imaging and therapy capabilities. Anchored by the MAGNETOM Terra 7T MR scanner, the facility serves as a hub for critical research that aims to transform care delivery and advance patient care.

“Siemens Healthineers…are really the experts in how to make the most of the equipment. Without their input, it can be the equivalent of buying a Ferrari, but driving it around like it’s a Yugo. [They] want to change the paradigm of how they work with radiology departments…[to] use imaging technology to its greatest capacity.”

- Talissa Altes, MD, Professor and Chair of Radiology, University of Missouri

“The Hybrid OR is one of the most technologically sophisticated in the US, and definitely is the most sophisticated cardiovascular imaging system in the area. With this room we will be able to perform more advanced procedures and serve patients better than ever before. In addition, this room will continue to build the relationships between Cardiology and Vascular Surgery and the rest of the WakeMed system as we will have better abilities to interface with Trauma, Oncology, Interventional Radiology and Orthopedics as we care for complex patients together with the best tools.”

- Charles Harr, MD, Chief Medical Officer for WakeMed Raleigh Campus and cardiothoracic surgeon

Our work with MUSC continues to optimize performance and operations in focused target areas including pediatrics, cardiovascular care, radiology, and neurosciences. Advanced technology has been a top priority as we launched a state-of-the-art hybrid operating room, and installed the NAEOTOM Alpha CT system, the world’s first photon-counting CT.