Cardiovascular Business - March/April 2008 - (Page 16) speCial seCtioN | Cardiovascular Information Systems sults, too, says Dan Cecil, cardiology PACS administrator. “Patient throughput is more efficient, and at the same time techs have more time to spend focusing on patient care. Patients and staff are more satisfied.” a piece of the paperless puzzle Featured in Newt Gingrich’s well-known book Paper Kills, The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington D.C., is a paperless powerhouse. The practice uses IMPAX CV in conjunction with Allscripts Touchworks EMR to purge paper, maximize efficiency and optimize patient care. The 10-physician university cardiology practice deployed Agfa’s cardiovascular image management and reporting solution in June 2007 on the heels of a successful installation at the George Washington University Hospital in November 2006. “There are several obvious reasons for choosing Agfa HealthCare Cardiovascular,” asserts Richard Katz, MD, director, division of cardiology. On the hospital side, the structured reporting and database features provide a mechanism to meet documentation compliance and registry standards. And as both the hospital and office move toward obtaining laboratory certification in areas like vascular ultrasound and nuclear cardiology, IMPAX CV helps meet key objectives required for certification. For example, the medical center uses IMPAX CV to assist in quality assurance, comparing echocardiogram and nuclear cardiology images to help meet ongoing accreditation requirements. Finally, accreditation and insurance reimbursement often go hand in hand, forging a link between the cardiology database and return on investment (ROI). “The database incorporates elements required for the registries and accreditation, so as cardiologists create the structured reports that populate the database essential data are included. The end result is a queriable database,” says Katz. The new system is a winner in both the hospital and office settings, says Katz. Take for example the typical cardiac office visit or ER encounter. The web-based thin-client CVEV allows the physician to view both office and hospital-based test reports and images even before seeing the patient. “It’s an informationrich experience. In addition, with complete access to prior im- 16 Cardiovascular Business March/April 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.