National Screening Leader Leverages GE HealthCare's Versana Active™ Ultrasound System for High-Volume, High-Quality Scanning
Extraordinary ultrasound needs call for an extraordinary system. For national preventive ultrasound leader, Life Line Screening, this means a system that can consistently perform at the highest level and volume.
Since its inception over 30 years ago, Life Line Screening has served over 10 million people. In 2023 alone, it screened 630,000 customers at over 14,000 locations across the United States, identifying about 46,000 abnormal results, 10,116 of which were critical.
As a leading provider of preventative ultrasound in the U.S, Life Line Screening faces incredibly scanning output rates that place their systems under unique pressure, day after day. “The way in which Life Line Screening uses ultrasound devices is not like anyone else in healthcare,” says Life Line Screening Executive Vice President of Operations, Jim Waters. “Each one of these devices is going to be used to scan 50 different people a day on average. So, you’re talking about a thousand uses a month and about 12,000 uses a year.”
These unique demands call for a system that can offer:
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Durability to perform thousands of scans per month
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Consistency of image quality scan after scan
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Versatility of diagnostic capabilities
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Portability to adapt to multiple different environments
When it came time for Life Line Screening to upgrade their systems, these factors were non-negotiable. GE HealthCare 's Versana Active ultrasound system was the solution to help meet Life Line’s diverse scanning needs while also offering offered robust education and training resources for new users, affordability for high-volume purchasing, and a guarantee of reliability. “The durability of the product is critically important,” says Waters, Life Line Screening’s Executive Vice President of Operations. “Almost every ultrasound device company comes in saying how much they’ve battle-tested their devices, and I always kind of smile and think that they can’t have battle-tested it the way we’re going to use it.”
Striking A Balance between Tough and Easy
For the Life Line team, it was not only critical the system to which they upgraded offered unparalleled durability; it was also essential that it be easy to use and easy to learn. As they continued to train and onboard new clinicians to accommodate their consistent expansion goals, they needed an intuitive interface and workflow that spoke to users of all experience levels. Versana Active offered the ease of use and training the Life Line team required. In our recent case study highlighting the impact of Versana Active on Life Line’s growth, Life Line Screening Clinical Manager and Director of Field Operations for the Southern Region Tracy Suprenant spoke specifically about the value of the system’s Scan Assistant tool in training new employees: “Having Scan Assistant helps in training because the protocol is right there on the screen in front of the students. It makes it easier to train our sonographers.” Available on all Versana ultrasound systems, Scan Assistant enables users to create custom exam protocols and standardized workflows to reduce keystrokes and manual effort to minimize errors and maximize efficiency.
Scan Assistant also offers clinicians significant time savings. One study indicated that it helped users perform abdominal scans 22 percent faster.
Additionally, Versana Active’s portability combined with durability served as a unique differentiator, helping Life Line bring it into more environments and demonstrating it to be a battle-tested ultrasound ally, scan after scan. “The equipment has proven to be very durable. And on the rare occasion that we’ve had any issues in the field, the service has been outstanding. It’s really been seamless and hasn't had any ripple effects for us.”
Decreasing Error and Increasing Diagnostic Capability
Other important criteria for Life Line’s new system included greater data security, less potential for user error, and the ability to scan for more clinical applications. Versana Active’s DICOM capability helped to minimize manual input of patient information, creating less opportunity for mistakes. Bringing more scanning capabilities onboard also helped to simplify, enrich, and accelerate the scanning experience, particularly when it came to carotid scans. “Use of a single device for both tests with Versana Active is easier than it was with our old system,” says Jim. “We were having to remove the transducer over and over again in a way that made the device hard to handle.”
A Trusted and Reliable Ultrasound Partner
Beyond Versana Active’s product capabilities, Life Line was looking for a vendor that could provide the highest level of support and on whom they could rely throughout the lifecycle of their system. This support includes training and education as well as maintenance and repair issues when applicable. “Training for the Versana system has been outstanding,” says Suprenant. “Our rep has spent so much time sharing his screen, so we were not only seeing the screen on the device but also seeing his hands on the console and the knobs he was hitting. When we built out the Scan Assistant with him and one other clinical manager, the three of us spent hours and hours on the phone and making sure that everything we needed was the way we wanted it.”
Be sure to read the full case study to discover all the ways Versana Active helped Life Line Screening meet their unprecedented needs, upgrade their infrastructure, and offer proactive ultrasound services to more patients.
Ready to transform your practice with Versana Active? Visit our website to learn more and schedule a demo today!
The statements by Life Line Screening described here are based on their own opinions and on results that were achieved in their unique setting. Since there is no “typical” hospital/clinical setting and many variables exist, i.e., hospital size, case mix, staff expertise, etc., there can be no guarantee that others will achieve the same results.
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