Radiology Advanced Practice Provider Team

Feb. 6, 2015

Over the past several years, the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences has seen tremendous growth by adding new institutions, physicians, and increased work load. The expectations of quality and cost are strong drivers of the new health care economy. One of the methods that we have employed to support our physicians and to support revenue growth is expanding the number of Advanced Practice Providers (APP) within our department. APPs are Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants. The team is distributed across five major hospitals in the region supporting sub-specialized divisions and multiple modalities. We work in both the inpatient and outpatient clinic setting, generating revenue by performing procedures, clinic visits, and consults. The team supports high-complexity procedures by adding efficiency to outpatient clinics, and ensuring all appropriate testing and studies are performed so that patients are safely treated for their complex disease processes.

The ability to extend physicians’ directed clinical services and generate revenue is only one pillar of our practice. Our team includes two members who have or soon will have their PhDs in Nursing. We have presented at Radiology Society of North America, Society of Abdominal Radiology, American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, and the Emory Quality Conference. APPs have been primary or secondary authors on three papers that have been published in peer-reviewed journals and are currently working on other papers and research projects. The team also represents the department in several committees within the Emory system, including Strategic Planning, MRI Safety, Radiology and Informatics Collaboration Committee, and Practice Quality Improvement Committee. We have assisted in implementing lifesaving methods to manage contrast reactions, standardized care for MRI sedation cases and those requiring general anesthesia, and growth of the interventional MRI practice to one of the largest in the country. We have helped to improve safety for our Interventional Radiology patients by having high-risk patients seen in clinics, allowing time to evaluate the need for additional support prior to the patient arriving at the hospital.

The Advanced Practice Provider model continues to expand in size and service. Our APP team is thankful for the opportunities that Emory Radiology has provided. The team continually looks for opportunities to be involved in the quality, teaching, research and informatics components of the practice. If you have any ideas that we can assist with, please reach out to any of our members:

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