Technology Solutions to Improve Patient Engagement in Radiology

Direct communication between Radiologists and their patients is essential to bolstering the patients’ role in healthcare. Without it, they may be less comfortable and lack understanding of the procedures they may undergo during a treatment. Technology Solutions are set to Improve Patient Engagement in Radiology in 2014.

Patient engagement is one of the most integral parts of the second stage of Meaningful Use. Providers looking to achieve stage 2 have to demonstrate modalities which serve to get patients more interested and involved with their healthcare. More than anything else, new advances in medical technology have paved the way for improving patient engagement capabilities. Here are a few of the different innovations which may lead to empowering patients to take control of their care.

Digital Radiology
Following Meaningful Use standards, and including patients on clinical decisions regarding Digital Radiography is a great way to improve engagement. The imaging technology allows physicians to quickly process scans and have access to them for interpretation. Together, doctors and their patients can sit down and go over the images, discussing various points of interest. Additionally, it may help patients understand the types of information that are shared between healthcare providers and who on the radiologist’s staff is viewing the data.

Patient portal
While the development of EHR has been significantly beneficial to healthcare, without the proper way to share health information physicians are coming up short on stage 2 of Meaningful Use. In order to succeed, practices should be working with IT staff to provide Web-based access to patient health information for authorized individuals. One of the biggest challenges in patient engagement is providing accessibility to the collected health data – portals can be the solution. This kind of remote access to health records, lab results and Medical Appointment Scheduling could be a modern and secure way to engage and empower patients.

Smartphones
According to the marketing research firm Nielsen, more than 60 percent of mobile subscribers use smartphones in the U.S. Knowing this, it is sensible to consider the development of smartphone applications to improve the patient engagement capabilities of a medical practice. Sitting down with the IT department to design and release an app could help providers track vital health information . After patients leave the imaging facility, the radiologist can better understand how they care for themselves post-diagnosis and treatment. Also, the app could be linked to the practice’s patient portal, allowing for real-time updates of health records. Integrating smartphones into the Diagnostic Imaging office could go a long way in boosting patient engagement.

Radiology Cares
Finally, radiologists should look into the Radiology Cares campaign run by the Radiological Society of North America. It was implemented to assist providers in directly interacting with their patients, as well as make patients more comfortable with their radiology procedures. The goal of Radiology Cares is to make patients the primary focus of medical imaging care and to promote effective communication that empowers them to make decisions regarding their healthcare. The campaign provides radiologists with valuable resources that the RSNA hopes will be shared with colleagues in order to convince more professionals to join them.

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Ronny Bachrach

Marketing Director at Viztek LLC

Responsible for all marketing activities including, press, advertising, trade show coordination, website management, dealer and customer communications.