Health Imaging & IT – Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise - (Page 12)

case study: Scottsdale Medical Imaging Ltd. | Scottsdale, Ariz. workflow process improvements The workflow process improvements that come from the RIS/ PACS are integral to SMIL’s continued drive for efficiency and quality. Before the introduction of RIS/PACS, SMIL’s offices were awash in faxes, films and folders. Now, the integration of electronic medical records, scheduling, image retrieval and documents means that virtually any report, image or document is available at the touch of a keyboard to all clinic staff—from the appointments clerk to one of the 76 radiologists on staff. “There is no way we could deal with the volume of cases that we have now without the RIS/PACS,” says RIS Administrator Ann Welker. “It gives us much tighter control over our flow than we had previously—we can add exams, process reports and do more work orders on-the-fly. The patients benefit because so much is done before they even get here—by the time they walk in the door, we already have the authorizations from [the] insurance [company], have their records and their previous images and know exactly what scan needs to be done. They come here, get on the scanner and then go home.” Scottsdale Medical Imaging relies on HP hardware including workstations, networks, servers and printers. “The only way to balance the need to offer an outstanding patient care experience and the drive for more efficiencies is to be able to gather data from our enterprise.” Jim Whitfill, Md, CIO Scottsdale Medical Imaging ltd. With reimbursement tightening, SMIL must continually improve its processes and that’s only possible by mapping workflow and processes to see what is working efficiently and what isn’t. “The only way to balance the need to offer an outstanding patient care experience and the drive for more efficiencies is to be able to gather data from our enterprise,” says Whitfill. For example, he says, if data reveal that patients are waiting 10 minutes on average at one SMIL image center and 5 minutes at another, SMIL staff will figure out what process improvements at the second center could help staff at the first center with the longer wait times improve its workflow and cut those patient wait times. Whitfill is confident that GE can meet SMIL’s need for increased technology integration and functionality going forward, both for the imaging group and referring physicians. “Moving the images and information to our referring clinicians in a seamless way will be an important part of our success in the future,” he says. “Often times referring clinicians don’t have an IT staff, so we want the images to just magically appear without any efforts on their desktop.” For SMIL’s radiologists, Whitfill sees a need for a one-workstation product that will display a variety of specialized images including 3D, PET and mammography viewing. “I want my radiologist to sit at one workstation, have all the information that she needs to be able to interpret the studies. If she has to get up, walk across the room and go to a specialized workstation, that completely kills her workflow and her productivity. So the PACS has to be able not only to accommodate the traditional modalities, but also specialized imaging. That is critical to our success and I think that GE is developing some exciting technologies that are going to facilitate that.” From the practicing radiologists’ standpoint, the holy grail is the ability to “read any image, any where, any time,” according to Owen. While a unified solution across all offices is still in the future for SMIL, its affiliates and imaging centers, in general that would allow this to happen. SMIL is making rapid progress towards this goal. “Certainly within SMIL with five campuses, 10 addresses and radiologists distributed all over the place, having a single PACS has brought forth huge benefits to the corporation in terms of radiology efficiency and specialization of care,” he says. n Positioned for progress The ability to integrate technology and medicine—a vital imperative for any radiology practice, especially one as large as this one—is one reason SMIL is committed to RIS/PACS. “As we grow, we need to know that our vendors are going to be there tomorrow, next year and five years from now,” says Whitfill. “That type of stability, combined with the knowledge that GE and HP will continue to innovate within an area that is a critical part of what we do. The open standards also are a big part of our success—the ability to work with hardware vendors like HP and the ability to bring in open technology into the enterprise so that IT and radiology can work together and not get into their own separate camps.” “[RIS/PACS] gives us much tighter control over our flow than we had previously— we can add exams, process reports and do more work orders on-the-fly.” Ann Welker, RIS Administrator Scottsdale Medical Imaging ltd. Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise November 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Health Imaging & IT – Integrating RIS/PACS for the Enterprise

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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