At Ochsner Health, every radiology exam represents an opportunity to improve patient outcomes. Under the leadership of Kernesha Weatherly, Vice President of Imaging Services and Provider Practice, the team set out to ensure that no incidental finding slips through the cracks.
Ochsner Health operates one of the largest imaging networks in the Gulf South, with more than 40 hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, and ambulatory imaging sites across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. When leaders reviewed the process for tracking incidental findings, they discovered that manual spreadsheets and emails were slowing communication and leaving room for missed follow-ups.
Kernesha and her team envisioned a scalable, reliable process that could handle the complexity of a large health system. After looking internally to their EHR for a solution, they partnered with Inflo Health to action the AI-powered care orchestration that the system needed to ensure that no patient falls through the cracks. Within just three months, the program was launched system-wide—an effort that required collaboration across radiology, IT, population health, and clinical leadership.
Key factors in Ochsner’s success included:
- Dyad leadership: Operational and physician leaders worked side by side to align clinical priorities with workflow improvements.
- Centralized governance: A cross-functional structure brought together IT, risk management, and population health to create a single, unified strategy instead of multiple department-level initiatives.
- Workflow optimization: Info Health empowers Ochsner to zero in on incidental findings and track, from the recommendation through to scheduling and the completed follow-up, every patient.
- National alignment: The program reflects standards from the American College of Radiology Learning Network and uses an ACR-validated solution to support data integrity and process improvement.
Early results show measurable progress. Among nearly two million imaging exams performed each year, Ochsner can now identify which cases require follow-up, monitor completion rates, and analyze patient trends through its population health programs.
By replacing manual processes with reliable, AI orchestrated care coordination, Ochsner Health has strengthened patient safety, improved operational efficiency, and created a model other health systems can follow. Kernesha Weatherly’s leadership and the dedication of the radiology team continue to demonstrate how innovation and collaboration can turn incidental findings into timely, coordinated care.
Read the full article: How Ochsner Health Radiology Is Scaling Up Incidental Findings Program
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