Thinking of making big changes in your medical imaging system? Here’s some inspiration.
Take a look at the healthcare providers that were named Health Imaging and IT’s Top 25 Connected Healthcare Facilities. The list includes facilities in big cities (New York’s Montefiore Medical Center) and small towns (Minot, N.D.’s Trinity Health) with winners in every region of the country.
Their medical imaging solutions were both technical and procedural, but they all were toward the top of Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) EMR adoption stages. Most were at stage 6 or 7, putting them in the top 4.5 percent of the nation’s medical imaging facilities.
Three of them singled out iPad use as a way of improving performance, part of a trend toward more remote-access options. Voice recognition technology also is playing a larger role. No two solutions looked that much alike, but common benefits were reduced times in sharing images, fewer steps in executing tasks, and lower costs through enhanced efficiencies.
The 2011 winners were announced in Health Imaging and IT’s August edition. And if you really want to get inspired, make your medical imaging system changes within the next several months, then enter your facility for the 2012 Top 25 Connected Healthcare Facilities contest. No word yet on the deadline for the contest, but last year, contestants could submit entries from June 6 to July 1.
Here’s a summary of what 10 of the top 25 achieved.
Shields Health Care Group, Quincy, Mass. The imaging center deployed an iPhone/iPad app that allowed referring physicians to view images from any of its 27 locations.
Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, Colo. The health system uses PACS for radiology, oncology, cardiology and pathology, enhancing patient care and outcomes.
North Shore University Health System, Evanston, Ill. The system has placed imaging equipment in 18 operating rooms so physicians can get instant information on patients and lower anesthesia times.
Main Line Health, Bryn Mawr, Penn. By moving its PACS to another location, it saved $20,000 in annual operating costs while trimming staff time to maintain the servers and increasing security.
Banner Health, Phoenix. A new cloud-based image transfer system allows images to be shared as trauma patients are sent from rural hospitals to Banner Health, avoiding repeated scans and providing quicker image access to treating surgeons.
Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston. A revamped system for notifying physicians of critical results trimmed acknowledgement times from more than 12 hours to less than 2 hours.
MedCentral Health System, Mansfield, Ohio. The community hospital launched digital mammography, which reduced turnaround times, saved labor costs and boosted accuracy.
Detroit Medical Center, Detroit. The center used a software solution to unify separate image viewing systems, greatly enhancing access throughout the facility.
Carolinas HealthCare System, Charlotte, N.C. A pilot program achieved a 75 percent reduction in mammography report turn-around times by using a voice-recognition system to replace manual entry of information.
Imaging Healthcare Specialists, San Diego. The imaging center replaced film and paper with a cloud-based system to share images through both the EMR and emails to physicians and patients alike.
To learn about the rest of the top 25, please see the original story.
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