Health Imaging & IT - October 2007 - (Page 26) t o p t r e n d s i n h e A lt h i m A g i n g & i t 2 0 0 7 Sponsored by an educational grant from Siemens Medical Solutions ➩ WAYS TO IMPROvE WORkFLOW to improve WorkfloW, WhAt AreAs Are you focusing on? Scheduling / registration process Technologist productivity Physician productivity Patient transport Billing process Administrative staff productivity Report turnaround Other 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 WhAt Are the top 10 technologies you Are currently considering to improve WorkfloW? Electronic Medical Record (EMR) PACS Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) Department information systems Hospital information system (HIS) Computer-Assisted Detection (CAD) Data storage Data network Wireless data network Advanced visualization software 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 keep radiology administrators awake at night. Similarly, competition is alive and well, trimming income at more than half of sites. The most common response to increased competition mirrors that of dealing with DRA cuts; 43 percent of sites plan to try to work more efficiently by investing in technology designed to increase productivity/efficiency. Epic Imaging strives to differentiate itself from its competition, stressing its reputation as an early adopter of digital mammography, PET, 3T MRI and PET/CT. The center plans to add a 0.6T upright MRI to its installed base of six scanners. “MRI competition has increased since the opening of some single modality sites. We were getting calls from spine surgeons who have heard about the benefits of upright MRI at conferences, and we decided to respond,” explains Griffith. Another Epic plan to offset increased competition and decreased reimbursement is a new women’s imaging building. “Women’s imaging has not been hit as hard by DRA as some other areas, and it’s one-third of our volume,” notes Griffith. The new building and additional patient volume could help offset DRA cuts. modality expenditures—what’s hot Adding volume often means adding imaging equipment, but not all solutions are created equally. Digital mammography tops the modality acquisition list for more than 25 percent of respondents, followed by CT, MRI and PET/CT (see chart on next page). Concord Hospital, like hundreds of sites across the country, plans to roll out digital mammography in the next year. The hospital will bypass CR mammography in favor of a full-field digital mammography system to maintain simplicity across platforms for radiologists, says Mazurowski. The primary unanswered question relates to specialized workstations and PACS integration. “We’d like to see PACS vendors develop better hanging protocols and software for digital mammography,” notes Mazurowski. The Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic will take a different approach as its switches from a hybrid analog-digital site to an all-digital site by the end of the year. The clinic will supplement its current digital deployment with CR mammography. The clinic decided on CR because of its lower acquisition cost and comparable image quality, says Wade. CT and MRI continue to be hot items—with one-third of sites in the 2008 replacement market for the modalities. “Buying equipment is the easy part; developing workflow is the challenge,” shares Mazurowski. Consider Partners Healthcare, which is in a constant state of refresh, prioritizing purchases according to those that show significant industry advancement, relate to reimbursable services and improve clinical care. A perfect example? 64-slice CT. HealthImaging.com egy. Reimbursement is a significant issue, says Jay Mazurowski, radiology director and immediate past president of the American Healthcare Radiology Administrators (AHRA). The current coping mechanism centers on increasing procedure volume and leveraging technology to improve productivity and workflow. For example, adding a second CT scanner and upgrading from a 40 to 64-slice system should open an additional 75 CT spots monthly at the community hospital. Equally important, says Mazurowski, radiologists can keep up with the volume. Some sites adopt different strategies; one-quarter of survey respondents claim they will delay technology purchases because of DRA cuts. The Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic in Rochester, N.Y., is not delaying technology purchases, but the clinic does struggle with maintaining quality in the face of declining reimbursement. “Financial viability is a concern,” says Business Manager Tess Wade. “Our best bet is to limit patients with insurance companies that don’t meet American Cancer Society guidelines, don’t pay or delay payment.” Other external factors—regulatory issues, including the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and physician quality and facility reporting requirements—also 26 O C T O B E R 2 0 07 | Health Imaging & IT http://HealthImaging.com
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