Copyright
©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Impact of a dedicated consult shift on reducing time to resolution of diagnostic disagreements: A quality improvement initiative
Mayur Virarkar, Ceylan Altintas Taslicay, Emilio Supsupin, Hrishabh Bhosale, Ritu Shah, Ahmed Hassan, Oswaldo A Guevara Tirado, Ruben G Ortiz Cordero, Ajaykumar C Morani
Mayur Virarkar, Emilio Supsupin, Oswaldo A Guevara Tirado, Department of Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States
Ceylan Altintas Taslicay, Hrishabh Bhosale, Ritu Shah, Ahmed Hassan, Department of Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Ruben G Ortiz Cordero, Department of Radiology, University of Florida Health Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States
Ajaykumar C Morani, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Author contributions: Virarkar M and Altintas Taslicay C designed the research study and conceived the study concept and design; Virarkar M and Altintas Taslicay C performed the research, extracted data from institutional databases, curated the data, and analyzed the data; Supsupin E, Bhosale H, Shah R and Hassan A curated and analyzed the data, with Hassan A also contributing to interpretation of results; Morani AC conducted the literature review and drafted the manuscript; Guevara Tirado OA and Ortiz Cordero RG drafted and revised the manuscript; Morani AC, Guevara Tirado OA and Ortiz Cordero RG contributed to the introduction, methods, results and discussion; Virarkar M, Altintas Taslicay C, Supsupin E, Bhosale H, Shah R, Hassan A and Morani AC provided methodological guidance, supervised the study, and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Institutional review board statement: This quality improvement initiative was conducted in accordance with institutional QA/PI guidelines, and a formal IRB review/waiver was obtained as indicated.
Informed consent statement: The need for patient consent was waived due to the retrospective nature of the study. Additionally, all data were de-identified and managed in accordance with institutional standards for clinical audit and quality research.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional supporting data is available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Ruben G Ortiz Cordero, MD, Department of Radiology, University of Florida Health Jacksonville, 655 West 8th Street, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States.
ruben.ortiz@ufhealth.org
Received: December 12, 2025
Revised: January 6, 2026
Accepted: January 29, 2026
Published online: February 16, 2026
Processing time: 60 Days and 10.2 Hours
BACKGROUND
Delays in resolving diagnostic disagreements within the quantitative imaging analysis core can impede clinical workflow and compromise patient care. To address this, a dedicated consult shift was initiated in 2023. This intervention included real-time monitoring through a dashboard overseen by an imaging specialist who alerted the designated consultant for immediate evaluation and resolution.
AIM
To evaluate the impact of a dedicated consult shift on diagnostic disagreement resolution times and operational efficiency.
METHODS
This retrospective quality improvement study analyzed timestamp data from 1245 cases of diagnostic disagreement spanning the period from 2017 to 2025. Cases were stratified into two groups: Pre-implementation (2017-2022) and post-implementation (2023-2025). The primary metric was time to resolution in days. Both means and medians were compared using an independent samples t-test and a Mann-Whitney U test, respectively.
RESULTS
The average time to resolution significantly decreased from 100.58 days (2017-2022) to 33.05 days (2023-2025) (t = 10.02, P < 0.0001). Additionally, the median time to resolution dropped from 20.90 days to 5.02 days, a statistically significant reduction confirmed by the Mann-Whitney U test (U = 241577, P < 0.0001).
CONCLUSION
The introduction of a dedicated consult shift, supported by real-time dashboard tracking, led to a significant improvement in both average and median resolution times for diagnostic disagreements. This intervention optimized the workflow and reinforced quality assurance processes in a clinical trial imaging setting.
Core Tip: This study evaluates the implementation of a dedicated consult shift supported by real-time dashboard tracking, which improved resolution times for diagnostic disagreements. After implementation, average and median resolution times improved by more than 67% and 76%, respectively. These post-intervention improvements demonstrate the value of structured quality assurance interventions in enhancing operational efficiency and reducing delays in patient care and clinical trial reporting.
