Michael P. Recht, MD, the Louis Marx Professor of Radiology and chair of the Department of Radiology, has implemented several unique initiatives throughout NYU Langone designed to benefit patients and integrate radiologists into medical decision-making.

Radiologists have traditionally been thought of as staying behind the scenes reading scans, but through these new initiatives, they are working closer than ever with clinicians to arm them with as much information as possible to diagnose a patient.

“I went into radiology because it seemed whenever you had a question the people with the answers were the radiologists,” Dr. Recht tells The Wall Street Journal. “The films told you what you needed to know to diagnose a patient and treat them.”

In one initiative called “virtual rounds,” clinicians communicate directly with radiologists through their computers, consulting on cases in real time. A team that utilizes this often is the Congenital Cardiovascular Care Unit, led by Sujata Chakravarti, MD, whose medical team treats complex cases in young children, sometimes less than a month old. “Before, radiology was this big black box of people that you never really saw,” says Dr. Chakravarti.

Another initiative involves revamping the old text-based radiologist’s reports into a new, easier to read multimedia report. Clinicians say these new reports highlight the most important images they need to see, rather than previously where they might have to sift through hundreds taken from an MRI.

Read more from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).