CHICAGO - Is your practice competitive in its use of informatics and business intelligence? Here’s how to assess your place on the technology spectrum.
CHICAGO - If you have a RIS and a PACS, congratulate yourself, but not too much. So does everyone else.
The real questions you should be asking, said Paul Nagy, PhD, director of quality in the department of radiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, are how old are those systems and what could you be doing to take advantage of available developments in technology?
Speaking at RSNA 2013, Nagy listed reasons you may need new systems, including advances that have been made in workflow management, search capabilities, analytics, report generation, dashboarding and the introduction of EHRs. Even five years ago, “your computer was 10 times slower. They had 10 times less storage on them,” Nagy said.
Nagy gave a five-point checklist to judge how your practice rates on the technology achievement spectrum:
All five areas are important in making sure your practice is staying current and operating at maximum efficiency, he said.
Business intelligence important
Matthew Morgan, MD, assistant professor and chief of imaging informatics at University of Utah Health Sciences, noted that as fee-for-service models move to value-based models, imaging is going from profit center to cost center. So the pressure is on to do more with less.
Business intelligence, using data to make sure you’re staying on track, will help radiologists be proactive in this changing climate.
He gave some guidelines for practices:
You can build such a system yourself, buy it from vendors, or use a hybrid approach, Morgan said.
Whatever you choose, he said, “you need people at your institution who both appreciate the value and need for this and are willing to take the time and work on this.”