Health Imaging & IT – Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise - (Page 11)

ot only did the center’s network of radiological specialists need on-thespot access to patient images, medical history and referring physician notes, but declining reimbursement mandated by the Deficit Reduction Act also meant that SMIL (pronounced “smile”) had to squeeze more efficiencies out of its technology and staff to assure a profitable business model going forward. Upgrading RIS/PACS technology allowed the 400-employee center to focus on continuous process improvement, while maintaining the current high level of patient care. “The RIS is the foundation-enabling technology for our radiologists and is the backbone of what we do,” says Whitfill, who is also a physician. “We put the RIS in first and then the PACS with a practice management software solution. The return on investment there has been very positive, allowing us to grow our volume by 15 percent a year without adding radiology staff. It’s critical for us to have high-quality, accessible technology for our radiologists who are spread out over 200-square miles in 10 centers.” Within the crowded RIS/PACS vendor field, Whitfill and SMIL staff and physicians didn’t hesitate to select GE and HP as their providers. GE’s position as a market leader, its reputation for high-quality customer service and its longevity in the medical imaging field gave SMIL a level of comfort and assurance, while HP’s competitive prices and reputation for delivering high-quality hardware sealed the selection of these two Fortune 500 companies as SMIL’s medical imaging technology providers. SMIL, which uses the GE Centricity RIS/PACS, is affiliated with Southwest Diagnostic Imaging as well as Valley Radiologists and provides reading services for two Scottsdale Healthcare hospitals. The centers employ HP hardware including workstations, networks, servers and printers. N referral base focus PACS in 2002 after a very positive experience with the GE PACS at Scottsdale Healthcare.” For SMIL’s network of offices that criss-cross 200 miles, it’s vital that the cache of specialized radiologists have immediate access to images done anywhere in the network. Because SMIL radiologists are specialists, rather than generalists, the physician with the specific training needs to have as close to real-time images as possible, along with the patient’s medical history, earlier images and referring physician information. The RIS/PACS model makes this possible and also facilitates referring physicians viewing of images on demand. hands-on technology For PACS Administrator Andrea Gold, the best aspect of integrated RIS/PACS is the usability. Previously, system administrators were totally dependent on vendors to fix any problems because the systems were like a black box. Now, Gold and her colleagues understand how the system works and have the tools to fix problems and bugs in the software before they cause a problem that would interrupt workflow and disrupt patient care. “The entire IT infrastructure is absolutely critical to our current success and the long-term success of our radiology practice.” Rodney Owen, Md, Radiologist and Partner, Scottsdale Medical Imaging ltd. As one of the busiest imaging facilities in the Scottsdale area, SMIL completes approximately 1.2 million imaging studies a year. While other imaging facilities—including national firms— have attempted without success to break into the Scottsdale market, SMIL has flourished by delivering top-notch service to its referring physicians. This service isn’t confined just to delivering patient care, it also means getting images and radiology interpretations and reports to referring physicians as quickly as possible. So while SMIL is committed to delivering the most up-todate imaging technologies, the center by no means focuses on a flavor-of-the-year imaging practice, says Rodney Owen, MD, a radiologist and partner in the practice. “We’re very proud of the imaging innovations we’ve brought to the community over the years—we were the first group in Arizona to do CAD for breast cancer imaging. While innovating is important, we want SMIL to be the holistic provider of medical imaging services dedicated to serving the Scottsdale community.” Standing behind excellent services is a solid infrastructure in terms of IT, people and planning. “The entire IT infrastructure is absolutely critical to our current success and the long-term success of our radiology practice,” Owen says. “We’ve worked with GE Healthcare in the RIS area since 2000 and adopted their “If I could give any advice to other PACS administrators who are looking at new technology, I would recommend that they make sure that they understand the product they are buying and not rely totally on their vendors to fix problems,” she says. “GE’s tech support is very good and responsive, as is HP’s, but it makes my job much easier when I have the tools to go in and look for issues that could cause us a problem. It’s much better for both the customer and the vendor when both are partners in the enterprise, and that’s the situation that works best for us.” When physicians, staff and patients are all unaware of any problems in the background with the technology, as Gold says is usually the case, you can’t find any better endorsement for a technology and its customer service staff. “[What] we looked for when building a RIS, is an intuitive system that works well with our other systems, including scheduling, authorizations, insurance and transcription so that they flow into each other into a seamless process that is invisible to the patient,” she says. The fact that the HP hardware was familiar to SMIL staff was a point in its favor, says Whitfill, HP’s powerful combination of a familiar technology—SMIL used its predecessor Compaq products for many years—with ongoing enhancements provides the centers with the best current technology available in a recognizable, useable package. The fact that GE and HP work together to integrate the hardware and software was a major selling point as well. HealthImaging.com Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise http://HealthImaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT – Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise Table of Contents Integrated RIS/PACS: Making Work Flow Singular Benefits: Integrated RIS/PACS Delivers Imaging Center Battle Strategies: Combating DRA Spurring Reading Efficiency in a Large Imaging Center Group Creating the Global Imaging Record RIS/PACS for the Community Hospital What’s the Best? Single Vendor vs. Best of Breed

Health Imaging & IT – Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise

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