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Evidence from multiple clinical settings suggests point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an important diagnostic support tool—especially during high-pressure, time-sensitive events. But adoption of the technology still lags at most hospitals.
More than 50% of emergency and ICU providers told Nature they had “rarely” used POCUS over the last 12 months, while over one-third felt the “single-course” training they received was insufficient.[1]
This article addresses that problem directly and explains exactly how your organization can expand POCUS adoption in 2026. Based on over 10 years of experience helping to introduce the technology across complex organizations, we provide a clear roadmap to plan, accelerate, and scale implementation.
There are three clear reasons to embrace POCUS in 2026:
These wireless devices are cheaper, more flexible, and enable asynchronous training to reduce the burden on expert facilitators. However, there are still many potential hurdles to adoption—which is why a comprehensive roadmap [1] can be beneficial.
Our experience suggests five key steps are essential to make the POCUS adoption process smooth and effective:
Start with a comprehensive overview of your imaging program—from workflows to budget management. The goal is to benchmark existing performance, identify potential bottlenecks, and evaluate where new POCUS devices could be incorporated most effectively.
Your audit checklist:
● Equipment inventory: List every modality, its age, utilization rates, and annual maintenance costs.
● Workflow metrics: Track order-to-scan times, times from acquisition to documentation, and percentage of eligible encounters where POCUS is used.
● Technology gaps: Identify missing capabilities like AI diagnostic support, PACS integration issues, dose optimization features, or mobile imaging needs.
● Staff feedback: Gather input from technologists on equipment reliability, referring physicians on report delays, and patients on experience pain points.
● Benchmark performance: Compare your metrics against industry standards for your facility type and patient volume.
Demand for ultrasound is growing in general, but how much will your specific patients benefit? Many areas of care—such as obstetrics, emergency, or rural care—will experience immediate and clear benefits from POCUS; others may require fewer devices.
Your next step is therefore to forecast demand for POCUS imaging and build a clear business case for increased adoption.
Your forecasting checklist:
● Volume trends: Analyze 2-3 years of historical data on ultrasound utilization and factor in population health changes, new service lines, and referral pattern shifts.
● Specialty requirements: Map current and planned clinical specialties to specific imaging needs(cardiology requires cardiac imaging, oncology needs advanced cross-sectional imaging, orthopedics depends on MSK protocols).
● Advanced capabilities: Identify specialty-specific protocols or advanced imaging techniques required for planned service line growth.
While handheld devices have considerably lowered upfront costs, POCUS is still a heavy investment. You need to demonstrate that the cost is justified—and showcase exactly how it will be repaid.
Your budget checklist:
● Operational costs: Calculate ongoing expenses, including maintenance contracts.
● Hidden costs: Identify subscription fees for software features, AI tools, cloud storage, and software updates—ask vendors directly what requires ongoing payments and what happens if you don't renew.
● Training and integration: Budget for comprehensive staff training (2-4 weeks typical) and IT integration with PACS and EHR systems.
● ROI projections: Calculate expected return based on volume projections, reimbursement rates, efficiency gains, and value-based care quality metrics.
Implementation without planning can lead to inefficiencies. From staff training to developing billing systems, you must set realistic goals that enable effective collaboration between stakeholders.
Your timeline checklist:
● Vendor selection (2-3 months): Complete equipment demos, site visits, reference checks, contract negotiations, and internal approval processes.
● Implementation and testing (1-2months): Coordinate equipment delivery, calibration, acceptance testing, and regulatory inspections.
● Staff training (2-4 weeks): Provide comprehensive training on equipment operation, safety protocols, and workflow integration.
● Billing setup (ongoing): Work with the revenue cycle team to establish CPT codes, fee schedules, and payer contracts before go-live.
● Quarterly assessments (first year): Review actual vs. projected volumes, utilization patterns, staff competency, patient satisfaction, and financial performance.
The final step of your roadmap should be actually getting buy-in from key stakeholders. This includes the executives signing off your budget; the clinicians who will use the devices; and administrators who will help manage and run the expanded ultrasound program.
Your goal is to build consensus before commitments are made—rather than managing conflict after purchase orders are signed.
Your stakeholder alignment checklist:
● Form a steering committee: Include representatives from clinical leadership (POCUS ultrasound directors, referring physicians, nursing), finance and executives, IT department, facilities and biomedical engineering, and compliance and quality teams.
● Define decision authority: Establish clear decision-making processes and escalation paths upfront—who has final say on vendor selection and how you'll prioritize when budget constraints require tradeoffs.
● Connect to strategic goals: Develop messaging that ties imaging investments to organizational priorities (clinical excellence, market competitiveness, financial performance, staff satisfaction, value-based care success).
● Schedule regular touch points: Establish a meeting cadence throughout the process (monthly during planning, weekly during installation, quarterly post-implementation).
● Build transparent prioritization: When resources are limited, use clear criteria like patient safety, revenue potential, strategic importance, staff efficiency, and regulatory requirements to make tradeoff decisions.
Vave Health offers the world's first wireless, handheld, whole-body ultrasound with a single PZT transducer. With simple, flexible, and cost-effective devices, our partners are able to expand their POCUS programs faster—with fewer hurdles and financial pressure.
Want to discuss how we can help you introduce morePOCUS in 2026?
[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-18078-8
[2]https://www.vizientinc.com/insights/reports/diagnostic-imaging/the-growing-demand-for-imaging-services-key-trends-shaping-the-future
can be beneficial/helpful.
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Evidence from multiple clinical settings suggests point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an important diagnostic support tool—especially during high-pressure, time-sensitive events. But adoption of the technology still lags at most hospitals.
More than 50% of emergency and ICU providers told Nature they had “rarely” used POCUS over the last 12 months, while over one-third felt the “single-course” training they received was insufficient.[1]
This article addresses that problem directly and explains exactly how your organization can expand POCUS adoption in 2026. Based on over 10 years of experience helping to introduce the technology across complex organizations, we provide a clear roadmap to plan, accelerate, and scale implementation.
There are three clear reasons to embrace POCUS in 2026:
These wireless devices are cheaper, more flexible, and enable asynchronous training to reduce the burden on expert facilitators. However, there are still many potential hurdles to adoption—which is why a comprehensive roadmap [1] can be beneficial.
Our experience suggests five key steps are essential to make the POCUS adoption process smooth and effective:
Start with a comprehensive overview of your imaging program—from workflows to budget management. The goal is to benchmark existing performance, identify potential bottlenecks, and evaluate where new POCUS devices could be incorporated most effectively.
Your audit checklist:
● Equipment inventory: List every modality, its age, utilization rates, and annual maintenance costs.
● Workflow metrics: Track order-to-scan times, times from acquisition to documentation, and percentage of eligible encounters where POCUS is used.
● Technology gaps: Identify missing capabilities like AI diagnostic support, PACS integration issues, dose optimization features, or mobile imaging needs.
● Staff feedback: Gather input from technologists on equipment reliability, referring physicians on report delays, and patients on experience pain points.
● Benchmark performance: Compare your metrics against industry standards for your facility type and patient volume.
Demand for ultrasound is growing in general, but how much will your specific patients benefit? Many areas of care—such as obstetrics, emergency, or rural care—will experience immediate and clear benefits from POCUS; others may require fewer devices.
Your next step is therefore to forecast demand for POCUS imaging and build a clear business case for increased adoption.
Your forecasting checklist:
● Volume trends: Analyze 2-3 years of historical data on ultrasound utilization and factor in population health changes, new service lines, and referral pattern shifts.
● Specialty requirements: Map current and planned clinical specialties to specific imaging needs(cardiology requires cardiac imaging, oncology needs advanced cross-sectional imaging, orthopedics depends on MSK protocols).
● Advanced capabilities: Identify specialty-specific protocols or advanced imaging techniques required for planned service line growth.
While handheld devices have considerably lowered upfront costs, POCUS is still a heavy investment. You need to demonstrate that the cost is justified—and showcase exactly how it will be repaid.
Your budget checklist:
● Operational costs: Calculate ongoing expenses, including maintenance contracts.
● Hidden costs: Identify subscription fees for software features, AI tools, cloud storage, and software updates—ask vendors directly what requires ongoing payments and what happens if you don't renew.
● Training and integration: Budget for comprehensive staff training (2-4 weeks typical) and IT integration with PACS and EHR systems.
● ROI projections: Calculate expected return based on volume projections, reimbursement rates, efficiency gains, and value-based care quality metrics.
Implementation without planning can lead to inefficiencies. From staff training to developing billing systems, you must set realistic goals that enable effective collaboration between stakeholders.
Your timeline checklist:
● Vendor selection (2-3 months): Complete equipment demos, site visits, reference checks, contract negotiations, and internal approval processes.
● Implementation and testing (1-2months): Coordinate equipment delivery, calibration, acceptance testing, and regulatory inspections.
● Staff training (2-4 weeks): Provide comprehensive training on equipment operation, safety protocols, and workflow integration.
● Billing setup (ongoing): Work with the revenue cycle team to establish CPT codes, fee schedules, and payer contracts before go-live.
● Quarterly assessments (first year): Review actual vs. projected volumes, utilization patterns, staff competency, patient satisfaction, and financial performance.
The final step of your roadmap should be actually getting buy-in from key stakeholders. This includes the executives signing off your budget; the clinicians who will use the devices; and administrators who will help manage and run the expanded ultrasound program.
Your goal is to build consensus before commitments are made—rather than managing conflict after purchase orders are signed.
Your stakeholder alignment checklist:
● Form a steering committee: Include representatives from clinical leadership (POCUS ultrasound directors, referring physicians, nursing), finance and executives, IT department, facilities and biomedical engineering, and compliance and quality teams.
● Define decision authority: Establish clear decision-making processes and escalation paths upfront—who has final say on vendor selection and how you'll prioritize when budget constraints require tradeoffs.
● Connect to strategic goals: Develop messaging that ties imaging investments to organizational priorities (clinical excellence, market competitiveness, financial performance, staff satisfaction, value-based care success).
● Schedule regular touch points: Establish a meeting cadence throughout the process (monthly during planning, weekly during installation, quarterly post-implementation).
● Build transparent prioritization: When resources are limited, use clear criteria like patient safety, revenue potential, strategic importance, staff efficiency, and regulatory requirements to make tradeoff decisions.
Vave Health offers the world's first wireless, handheld, whole-body ultrasound with a single PZT transducer. With simple, flexible, and cost-effective devices, our partners are able to expand their POCUS programs faster—with fewer hurdles and financial pressure.
Want to discuss how we can help you introduce morePOCUS in 2026?
[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-18078-8
[2]https://www.vizientinc.com/insights/reports/diagnostic-imaging/the-growing-demand-for-imaging-services-key-trends-shaping-the-future
can be beneficial/helpful.
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