Radiologists have been working to reduce repeated medical imaging procedures in hopes of trimming clinical expenses that can negatively impact revenue cycle management. By synchronizing their PACS with electronic medical records, physicians can better track patients’ health histories.
According to DOTMed Healthcare Business News, the ability for radiologists to embed images into records can improve clinical reports. When EMRs and PACS can display information on the same patient simultaneously, physicians get a much bigger picture of his or her current medical condition. This allows radiologists and referring doctors to seamlessly share information for the continuum of care.
Partially driven by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Meaningful Use program, the adoption and use of EMRs has expanded to clinical offices around the country. With image integration, physicians can review in-depth medical data in one central location. EMR and PACS together also improve communication between radiologists and other health care providers. Any malignancies discovered from digital imaging can be immediately added to the patient’s EMR, which grabs the referring physician’s attention when he or she reviews the radiologist’s clinical notes.
Synchronizing EMRs and PACS is important, as images can be more powerful than a few summarizing sentences. They can help doctors streamline clinical workflows and improve health outcomes through better quality of care.
Integration yields profits for providers
AuntMinnie.com explained that, while image integration with EMRs is challenging, it is worth the extra effort to deliver a central location for clinical information. The Harris County Hospital District in Houston, Texas, sees more than 45,000 patients each year and wanted to synchronize their EMR system with existing PACS.
Utilizing the adoption of HL7 and DICOM standards, providers were able to send clinical data from EMRs into an interface engine that communicated with PACS systems. Images would be interpreted, with text results being relayed from the platform back to the EMR for physician review. Once exam results are sent from the equipment to the PACS, hyperlinks are sent through the interface engine and embedded into the EMR.
Physicians are able to view imaging results by simply clicking the hyperlinks to examine the ordered tests.
“The benefit of being able to expand and modernize our diagnostic imaging [platforms] has really been profound,” said John Riggs, M.D., medical director of clinical information systems at HCHD, quoted by AuntMinnie.com.
By integrating EMRs and PACS, HCHD providers have increased their final report turnaround times, improving the quality of care they deliver to patients on a daily basis. The health system also experienced financial gains, as submitting charges for tests has been eased through increased clinical accuracy and complete records.
Finally, the technical side of the facility improved because imaging modalities had faster IT integration and reduced maintenance requirements. The success of HCHD shows that hospitals and other care centers need to optimize their IT investments to bolster clinical and fiscal efficiencies.
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Ronny Bachrach
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