Health Imaging & IT - May 2008 - (Page 50)

speCial seCTion praCTiCe managemenT Blurring the Lines: Interfaced vs. Integrated RIS/PACS tions are decentralized, creating valuable real estate for other sources of revenue. Strickland says that with Centricity RIS-IC from GE Healthcare, they have found the paperless support in an integrated, RIS-driven system. “The technology behind that is still essentially an interface— there is still a server that communicates information—but it is fair to call it integrated because RIS drives the workflow,” Strickland notes. The medical center can still operate the RIS and PACS independently since they are each on separate databases with no broker vendor in the mix. driving efficiency The staff at Tower Imaging, which provides MRI, CT, ultrasound and x-ray scans to residents around its base in Alabaster, Ala., have gained momentum toward a completely paperless office with the implementation of the Opal-RAD and Opal-RIS from Viztek. Hollie Hayes, office manager and primary RIS user, says the system has streamlined billing workflow since its implementation in December 2007. With RIS/PACS, there is no longer the need to have someone gather all the billing information at the end of the day. Instead, information is pulled from the RIS and PACS and Hayes says she is able to process billing paper-free. Report turn-around time has improved since the implementation as well. “What previously was a 24-hour turn-around has been trimmed down to two or three hours, depending on the patient load for a given day,” she says. Hayes also says that the RIS/PACS is good for scheduling. “It leaves a nice audit trail on the patient, allowing notes to be made on each encounter, which makes it easier to serve the physician referring base,” she adds. Providing referring physicians with quick and accurate access to patient information has been the greatest impact of the implementation for radiologist Ben McDaniel, Jr., MD. “Within 15 minutes of a report being complete, the referring physician can have it in hand—that is the biggest return we have seen.” “Before, the rads were interacting with PACS and the dictation system, which had to take messages back to the RIS. Today, the rads are interacting directly with the RIS. Now, they are talking directly to the master, whereas before they were talking to an auxiliary.” Andy Strickland, director of imaging informatics, university of Washington Medical Center, Seattle RIS is really the driver no matter what the radiologists interact with, he says. “Before, the rads were interacting with PACS and the dictation system, which had to take messages back to the RIS. Today, the rads are interacting directly with the RIS. Now, they are talking directly to the master, whereas before they were talking to an auxiliary.” Having the radiologists use the RIS to read has been very helpful, in that the information available is more robust when reading the exams, and the way it manages who is reading what is more sophisticated, he notes. For example, a blue lock on an exam in the worklist means it is selected and a red lock means it is in process. “This helps with referring docs who come in and ask who read what case—anyone can see who read that case very easily,” Strickland says. “We have truly simplified things,” he adds. With fewer components and fewer servers, maintenance is easier. Before Centricity, 20 percent of service calls had to do with keeping the voice, RIS and PACS in sync. “They were all working correctly, but the communication was getting mangled for whatever reason. With GE, we have eliminated those problems with the support and integrated solution we now have.” 50 Health Imaging & IT | May 2008 future directions With integrated PACS, whether they are single or dual databases, if they are well integrated, the difference between the two should not be easily seen, according to Piraino. “The reality of the market is that we are starting to see systems that are truly becoming integrated instead of interfaced,” he says. “The vast majority seem to still be interfaced, not integrated; however, the lines are starting to blur—or rather the definitions are starting to change.” There is another ingredient that is being added to the discussion around integrated vs. interfaced RIS/PACS—the concept of the portal. With the portal, the hope is that every application and system—be it RIS, PACS, HIS or EHR—can be accessible without switching or upgrading systems. It is a way to have different vendors functionality, but get the benefit of an integrated system, Piraino adds. With a portal, the radiologist has one entry point to RIS and PACS functions. “The advantage is that maybe you don’t have to buy it from a single vendor, but get the benefits of an integrated system—that is the promise. Whether that is the reality is still up in the air,” he says. HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Health Imaging & IT - May 2008

Health Imaging & IT - May 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Convention Spotlight: SIIM 2008 Healthcare IT Salary Survey Survey Findings Inside the Transition to Next-Generation Image Management Blurring the Lines: Interfaced vs. Integrated RIS/PACS The Insider's Primer: Taming the Workflow Beast - Five Facilities Tell How Availability, Applications Drive New Archive Strategies Modality Review Managing Technology Inside Technology Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - May 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.