Rethinking Radiology Workflow
Automating Workflow Practices
Executive Summary
Imaging centers are targeting both internal and external workflow to gain significant improvement in service delivery and, at the same time, making progress toward the realization of the electronic health record. Workflow improvements also are proving to decrease operational costs.
Making this possible are new alternatives available to imaging centers that offer the option of a more proactive, efficient and profitable planning and design process.
Advancements include:
- Delivering reports electronically to the referring physician’s Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) system to increase customer satisfaction and retention
- Combining patient, clinical and image data into a consolidated view that enhances the radiologist’s read process and improves productivity
- Automating and integrating both coding and billing, thereby increasing reimbursement and decreasing operating costs
The impact of a modern workflow, when orchestrated properly, quickly results in improved service delivery, greater customer loyalty, the capture of new business, and efficiencies which improve profitability.
In the past, radiology workflow has been dictated by its applications. Manual processes were developed to support limited technology and compensate for the gaps between systems.
Today, it is becoming more common to design an optimal workflow model and expect technology and supporting applications to accommodate it.
Challenges of Traditional Radiology Workflow
The challenges of traditional radiology workflows are evident in the following areas.
- Exchanging information with referring physicians
- Radiological interpretation process
- Billing and coding process
Exchanging Information with Referring Physicians
Manual processes are often the limiting factor in turnaround time and delivery of reports.
See PDF for manual processes chart.
When a paper order is received by an imaging center, it is typically physically processed, often in a staging room. The patient is designated as “new” or “returning” and their demographic information is entered or updated in the appropriate applications.
During and after the patient visit, correlating patient data, images, and reports is mostly a manual effort which delays the delivery of the patient report.
At the end of the process, a patient report is delivered to the physician who must then manually enter the data into their EMR system, taking valuable time and creating a higher probability of entry error.These manual-entry inefficiencies are then passed on throughout each step of the workflow.
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To download a complete PDF version of Rethinking Radiology Workflow, follow the attachment below.
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