Broadening radiology’s medical imaging horizons
RSNA 2019 is almost upon us and I, for one, am excited and intrigued by this year’s theme — See possibilities together. To me, this represents a rallying cry for radiology professionals to expand their efforts and influence outside the confines of their own departments.
While radiology remains the imaging center within healthcare, imaging doesn’t always begin and end there. Today’s healthcare providers capture images of the patient in several locations and in a variety of formats. It’s not restricted to the order-based DICOM images prevalent in radiology.
Compare various image formats in context
Diagnostic and referential images are captured by specialties including cardiology, ophthalmology, dermatology, pathology, gastroenterology and more in countless image and video file types (e.g. JPEG, PNG, AVI, MPEG, etc.). Radiologists don’t always own and manage these imaging assets, but visibility into them can have a significant impact on the profession.
For example, the ability to view a wound photo side-by-side with an X-Ray or other DICOM image can help radiologists deliver more accurate diagnoses.
Extend image visibility to physicians, patients
Extending the medical images stored in radiology picture archiving communications systems (PACS) to other clinical stakeholders (including patients) also benefits healthcare outcomes. For example, the ability to easily share medical images outside of a proprietary PACS can simplify and streamline collaboration with other radiologists and physicians, ensuring more accurate diagnoses.
Giving primary care providers, specialists and other clinicians referential viewing access to medical images completes the patient picture within the electronic medical record (EMR) and improves decision-making and treatment. Finally, giving patients access to their own medical images via a patient portal not only keeps them engaged and involved in their own care, it also reduces the need for transferring images to CD or DVD for transport.
Harness encounter-based images
The prevalence of compact modalities, such as the portable ultrasound, is also increasing the rate of encounter-based imaging within healthcare organizations. These procedures help accelerate diagnosis and treatment, but oftentimes they aren’t documented appropriately for reimbursement or retained in enterprise systems.
The radiology profession needs to ensure it keeps tabs on these assets and ensure they are accounted for in its overall imaging strategy.
Adopt enterprise-first imaging
Now more than ever, this imaging strategy needs to go beyond PACS and the radiology department. It needs to take the imaging requirements of the entire enterprise into account with a focus on image access, visibility, exchange and collaboration.
A new whitepaper written by Healthcare Innovation titled Adopting An Enterprise-First Imaging Strategy outlines the drivers and best practices for an enterprise-first imaging implementation. Governance, vendor neutrality and universal viewing are foundational elements to establishing a successful enterprise-first imaging environment, according to the paper.
Learn more at RSNA 2019
Hyland Healthcare will be demonstrating many of these foundational capabilities at RSNA 2019.
For example, we’ll be showcasing how radiologists can leverage our Acuo Vendor Neutral Archive to standardize imaging data, eliminating dependence on proprietary archives and providing a consolidated source for all medical images regardless of the originating system. We’ll also demonstrate how our enterprise and diagnostic viewer enables referential image viewing throughout the enterprise while providing radiologists with a powerful collaboration and remote reading tool.
Other solutions on display will include our Image Link Encounter Workflow solution that bridges the worklist functionality gap that currently exists between many point-of-care imaging devices and PACS. Finally, we’ll highlight how our new workflow optimization and intelligent orchestration solution helps radiologists increase the quality and efficiency of their reads by providing a single, integrated worklist based on custom preferences.
Hyland Healthcare has the technology and expertise to help radiologists increase productivity and efficiency within their own departments while expanding their capabilities and influence throughout the enterprise. We’re dedicated to helping you see possibilities together.
Come see how by visiting us at booth #4300 in the South Hall at RSNA 2019 in Chicago. Hope to see you there!
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