Cardiovascular Business - March/April 2008 - (Page 13) Sponsored by an educational grant from Agfa HealthCare & EMC Corporation “Accreditation in echo and vascular requires consistency across all [affiliated] hospitals, the required level of consistency is almost impossible without a robust structured reporting solution.” Linda smitley, rN, Cardiology PACs Project Manager, University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio include Case Medical Center, a 947-bed hospital and academic medical center, as well as multiple community hospitals and outpatient clinics. In June 2007, University Hospitals replaced several aging cardiac image and data management systems with Agfa HealthCare’s IMPAX CV. The state-of-the-art system serves as a central repository for echocardiography, non-invasive vascular and cath studies for 12 University Hospitals sites in three counties. EMC CLARiiON and EMC Centera are deployed to manage enterprise storage needs. “Physicians no longer need to access different systems to view echo and cath studies,” says Keith Fox, supervisor of adult echocardiography laboratory. University Hospitals also plans to migrate or convert 10 years of historical data onto IMPAX CV to meet a state mandate for retention of patient data. “The migration is complex and will take two years, but it will improve the delivery of patient care because cardiologists will be able to view and compare current and prior data to determine if the patient’s condition has deteriorated or improved,” explains Fox. The ultimate goal in the health system is accelerated and improved patient treatment, says Cardiology PACS Project Manager Linda Smitley, RN. Rapid report generation and distribution facilitate the organization’s patient care goals. “Agfa HealthCare’s clinical structured reporting capabilities made it possible for University Hospitals to meet this goal,” says Smitley. With IMPAX CV, cardiologists complete the reporting in the cath lab while the patient is on the table. The completed document can be faxed to the patient care unit and to referring and attending physicians, promoting prompt and responsive patient care. The streamlined IMPAX CV Reporting module improves the hospitals’ previous model. The previous report workflow entailed multiple steps; physicians completed reports at the end of the day before sending them to transcription. After transcription returned the report, cardiologists proofread and signed the document before sharing it with other clinicians. The time difference is significant; in some cases report turnaround plunged from more than 72 hours under the transcription model to same-day results with IMPAX CV. Structured reporting capabilities benefit the echocardiography and vascular realms, too. “Accreditation in echo and vascu- lar requires consistency across all [affiliated] hospitals,” explains Smitley. “The required level of consistency is almost impossible without a robust structured reporting solution.” Prior to Agfa HealthCare Cardiovascular, some University Hospitals facilities used structured reporting, but others relied on manual dictation or check sheets that were routed to transcriptionists, so report structure varied among physicians. The model not only made it difficult to enter data into databases and registries, but also incorporated a level of subjectivity. In contrast, IMPAX CV Reporting offers a streamlined, consistent model; universal clinical structured reporting requires cardiologists to use consistent phrasing and terminology. Every physician on staff uses the same definition of clinical terms, such as “moderate blockage.” Plus, the system can fax results, so physicians can proceed to diagnosis and treatment. “Accelerated diagnosis and treatment can translate into a more rapid patient response and greater likelihood of improvement in the patient’s condition,” states Smitley. In addition to expediting patient care, structured reporting can also deliver financial and workflow benefits by eliminating the need for transcription and subsequent physician proofreading. The other critical half of the cardiac-care equation is the referring physician population. IMPAX CV delivers significant clinical and productivity muscle by providing simple access to patient data and images. Physicians can access cardiology reports and results through the use of Agfa’s Cardiovascular Enterprise Viewer (CVEV), which permits a physician to view images on any web-enabled PC. “There are no more calls from physicians looking for reports,” notes Fox. Plus, physicians can view images online immediately after acquisition. A final benefit of CVIS? IT is nearly a non-issue. University Hospitals’ disaster and redundancy strategy includes a backup database at each site. “If a system does go down, patient care can continue without disrupting other functions,” explains Fox. Cardiologists can access images via the backup database. In the past, acquisition workstations served as the backup. If the main cardiology data center failed, physicians needed to view images at the modality. The arrangement meant that modality devices might not be available for patient imaging during downtime. CardiovascularBusiness.com Cardiovascular Business 13 http://CardiovascularBusiness.com
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