As the name suggests, “incidental findings” are medical findings that are unintentionally discovered during radiological evaluation for an unrelated medical condition. For decades, radiologists reported incidental findings to the patient’s referring physician, who then made the decision as to whether the patient required notification or additional care. This communication flow has always been problematic, in part because it was never intended to be a closed-loop process. Radiologists are not typically aware of whether follow-up care or patient notification has occurred. In addition, most referring physicians struggle with an overwhelming caseload, which increases the likelihood that test results can be inadvertently overlooked.

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