Minnesota Urology is one of the largest urology practices in the upper Midwest. Headquartered in the Twin Cities area, the group specializes in adult urology care for patients throughout Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. When the practice faced modern issues common to today’s pathology industry, they decided to move forward with a modern solution: digital pathology. They now process roughly 1800 cases per year in a way that’s faster, more efficient, and with less overhead than ever before.
With Lumea’s BxLink™ software, diagnostic AI tools, and a specialized, outsourced lab, they’ve built a process that gives relief to their staffing issues, slashes turnaround times for their patients, and transforms work-life balance for their pathologists.
Minnesota Urology’s Turning Point: Why Go Digital?
Like many medical practices in today’s world, Minnesota Urology recognized a need for change when rapid growth in patient needs met common, industry-wide challenges. Three main pressures made their traditional, manual model unsustainable. First, the practice was scaling fast, adding roughly three new providers per year and opening new clinic locations, and their existing workflows simply couldn’t keep pace. Second, a shortage of qualified histotechnicians and pathologists left them with few options to add capacity. And third, their primary pathologist, Dr. Leone Ritze, was shouldering an intense caseload alone, so a single sick day or vacation meant an overwhelming backlog of physical slides waiting on her return.
Benefits of Digital Adoption
As Minnesota Urology partnered with Lumea, they experienced profound improvements across their entire operation.
- Enthusiastic pathologist adoption: Like many of her peers, Dr. Ritz was skeptical about the changes that would come with transitioning to a digital workflow. But, after the practice had fully adopted, she says she “would never go back” to a traditional workflow. The new flexibility and convenience of being able to work from home simply outweighs any attachment to the tried-and-true diagnostic methods she’s used since beginning her career. Now, she’s an enthusiastic advocate for digital pathology.
- AI as a practical tool, not a buzzword: Now that Minnesota Urology uses digital pathology, they’ve been able to introduce AI tools into their diagnostic workflow. Dr. Riz makes her own diagnosis first, then compares it against the AI’s read, which serves as an informal second opinion. AI is certainly not ready to replace a pathologist, she says, but it’s getting better all the time, and using it now puts the practice ahead of the learning curve the industry will inevitably face as AI adoption becomes more standard.
- Grossing efficiency that scales: Lumea’s revolutionary prostate processing technology enables Minnesota Urology to process six prostate cores in a single cassette, reducing histology processing needs from 12-14 blocks to just 2-3. By using the Lumea digital pathology ecosystem, from pre-analytical tech to software, they’re able to work much more efficiently, allowing them to handle an expanding caseload without adding proportional overhead or depending on a histotechnician workforce that simply isn’t there.
- Faster, easier second opinions: Now that Minnesota Urology has the right digital support system in place, Dr. Ritz can instantly send difficult cases out for review, making second opinions much easier and faster to get than physically sending slides out.
Peer-to-Peer Advice: Navigating the Digital Pathology Transition
As with any major operational shift, digital pathology introduces valid questions and concerns for practices to consider. For others looking to switch to digital pathology, Minnesota offered these insights:
Embrace the Learning Curve
They learned that a pathologist’s apprehension while switching to new solutions is a completely normal part of the transition process. AI, in particular, can be a daunting new tool that many are rightly skeptical of. However, in their experience, AI can become a helpful addition to the diagnostic process that’s turned their pathologist from a skeptic to an advocate.
Acknowledge the Unknowns
As the group looks to the future, they acknowledge that evolving billing regulations and compliance requirements are legitimate concerns and should be closely monitored. However, with a flexible digital pathology structure in place, they view these unknowns as minor concerns that forward-thinking practices can confidently manage.
Digital Pathology Moving Forward
For Minnesota Urology, the strategic shift to digital pathology is opening up possibilities that support their growth goals, help them to operate more efficiently, and give their pathologists a better work experience.
This story was featured in the latest edition of the Digital Diagnostic Digest. For more digital pathology information, advice from peers, and stories like this one, subscribe to our electronic version of the digest for free by filling out the form below.
