Generative AI in Radiology: Why Implementation Matters and Why Trusted Partners Provide Better Results

Radiology is a vital function in modern medicine, and generative AI is accelerating this pillar even further. A significant value realization has been how helpful Gen AI has become in easing the radiologist’s workflow by augmenting the report generation process; this has not only allowed more time for radiologists to focus on complex interpretation tasks and practice at the top of their licenses, but has also resulted in significant cost savings and return on investment for health systems and radiology practices of all communities and sizes.

Indeed, generative AI as a key component of the radiology workflow has been elevated far beyond hype, and has now become a cornerstone of efficiency. 

However, the success of realizing this value comes down to a central aspect: implementation of this technology.

Implementation is challenging

Successful Gen AI implementation in existing and mature health enterprises relies heavily on deep integration with existing processes, role-based workflows, and governance structures. Implementation research frequently highlights recurrent pain points: fragmented integration with status-quo operations, buyer and organizational readiness gaps, a lack of commitment to change management initiatives, and subpar vendor customer support. 

Therefore, a holistic approach to implementations, which covers technology, workflow, people, and policy, is often cited as consistently outperforming narrow deployments. This is especially true in such an intricately complex field as radiology, which spans all other specialties and is so widely used across any given organization. 

Beyond the organizational challenges that implementation often entails, there is an entirely separate human function. Lisa Soltz, Vice President of Implementations at Rad AI, explains this phenomenon and how navigating the emotions and human change management through every project phase, especially through the first weeks and months of new users, is one of the most challenging facets of any implementation; even for the biggest champions of change, there will always be dips in optimism and fear of the unknown. She also explains how the organization has tailored its implementation process to solve for exactly this: “at Rad AI, we start every implementation with an awareness of the challenges that even the best implementations can face and the breadth of change, especially to people, that implementing our products will have for an organization. We take pride in our unwavering partnership and commitment during the implementation to see customers through each facet of the project.” 

Ultimately, there will always be some level of “growing-pains” with any implementation; however, choosing the right partner can significantly ease the process.

Organizational readiness & involvement are crucial

Great vendors are necessary, but they are not sufficient. AI introduces new variables and perspectives on imaging workflows, and there is a significant opportunity to curate solutions to fit the exact needs and voice of the customer. This entails engineering with purpose, rather than pushing forward point solutions in a disjointed and siloed manner. However, all of this can only be as successful as how committed an organization is to actually effectuating change through the implementation and with new technology. Indeed, effective implementations require strong collaboration with the buyer, especially in the form of executive sponsorship, clinical champions, data stewardship, a commitment to proactive change management, resilience in process optimization, and ongoing performance reviews, among many other aspects.

Niche partners enable a significantly better implementation experience

Organizational surveys overwhelmingly indicate that enterprise stakeholders and IT teams are increasingly prioritizing vendors that can foster ease of integration, rapid realization of value, and responsiveness over vendors that purely offer a wider breadth of features. In radiology, specialized and niche partners who will co-develop, tailor to organizational needs, and iterate quickly with clinical champions, especially during the often tumultuous “last mile” of deployment, will always trump the out-of-the-box approach that larger hyper-scalers frequently offer. 

The practice of radiology is not a “one-size-fits-all” field; rather, it is dramatically different depending on the practice, ranging from community settings and teleradiology to large academic centers. Furthermore, the ability to customize generative AI outputs for radiologists, as Rad AI’s Impressions product line does, reflects an inherent quality regarding the practice of radiology: the voice and tone of the clinician’s output uniquely matters in this field. Niche vendors such as Rad AI are distinctly positioned to deliver on this, both from a product perspective as well as for a tailored implementation experience.

Soltz’s own methodology in overseeing implementations heavily relies on this perspective: “We take pride in our desire to always be better at what we do. We refine each implementation experience using the lessons learned. We want the process to be efficient and clearly defined while remaining nimble to meet each customer’s specific support needs. This translates to building an implementation methodology that feels organized and clear…but also remains nimble and committed enough to address iterative changes as they emerge during the process.” Ultimately, the overall experience translates to something that will not be easily achieved from larger vendors, who often approach implementations with a more formulaic approach.

Realize the value

The value proposition of generative AI in radiology has become incredibly obvious in its ability to expand capacity and consistency across the entire imaging lifecycle. However, lasting value can only be realized with stellar implementation, which requires vendors and buyers to work together to empower deep integration, shared ownership, and disciplined monitoring. Given these very intricate paradigms, it is evident that specialized and niche vendor partners are uniquely positioned to truly deliver superior outcomes.