AMICAS RadStream is a radiology critical results software solution designed to mitigate the risks associated with communicating critical results to referring physicians.

RadStream brokers the communication of positive radiology results to help meet the ever increasing scrutiny surrounding the national patient safety goals outlined by the Joint Commission (JCAHO). RadStream also utilizes a sophisticated prioritization algorithm to dramatically improve radiologist reading productivity because of reduced interruptions.

RadStream focuses on improving three critical aspects of communicating radiology critical results.

• Reducing Interruptions. With RadStream, technologists complement clinical data with subjective patient observations to create an objective clinical acuity score. The acuity score prioritizes the most acute cases — those most likely to interrupt the radiologist — for the radiologist in real time. This radiology critical results system has been proven to improve radiologist productivity by 40 percent.
• Brokering Communications. RadStream incorporates a patent-pending "operator" concept to automate and broker radiology critical results communications between clinicians. This helps ensure that radiologists can easily be put in touch with referring physicians to discuss patients. Introducing an operator allows radiologists to focus on reading cases — instead of chasing down clinicians.
• Conveying Results. The RadStream operator also facilitates the communication of positive results to referring physicians. This simultaneously ensures that the patient is getting the best care while reducing the legal risks associated with not communicating positive results. RadSteam includes a comprehensive audit trail for all operator communications to ensure that all radiologist and referring physician interactions are documented.

AMICAS acquired the exclusive licensing and worldwide distribution rights to RadStream in April 2006. The radiology critical results software was designed and developed by the Radiology Informatics Research Core at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Business.

At Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, RadStream was instrumental in helping the hospital realize a 40 percent improvement in report turnaround time and a 22 percent reduction in interruptions to radiologists. In a 20 radiologist practice, these productivity increases result in savings of 1 to 2 full time radiologists.