The role of ultrasound in modern medicine and healthcare IT has increased monumentally over the last 50 years. Whereas extremely invasive surgical procedures were required for the diagnosis and analyzing of a great deal of illnesses and diseases, now ultrasound technologies allow for the fast imaging and diagnosis without the invasive surgery. Staying up-to-date with the technologies, cases and innovations occurring within the field is vital to the performance and efficiency of operations.
A great method of staying current with the ever-changing world of radiology and cardiology is to leverage associations that are dedicated to compiling and synthesizing data into easy-to-consume formats.
Often times, the only way to see how efficiently things are running is by comparing yourself to others. By finding and identifying “best practices” in any medical field, radiology especially, it allows you a guidepost that can help you identify areas of your operations that are working well, and areas that need a lot of work. Benchmarking in radiology can be a difficult practice as radiology departments all over the country and rest of the world are using completely different standards that relate to their work output or workload. It remains an important, if not crucial, aspect of organizational strategy.
When it comes to gaining an edge on the competition surrounding you, there are few better ways of doing so than by streamlining your operations and making everything work more efficiently. In the medical field, finding ways to do that can be extremely challenging. By automating some of the processes involved in your operations with a cardiovascular information solution (CVIS) you can do just this. That’s exactly the change that The Washington Hospital in western Pennsylvania did.
To say an enterprise is massive might be an understatement when it involves seven different hospitals and serves over 2.5 million patients. So when OSF HealthCare System, owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Peoria, Illinois realized that fragmented methods of managing and viewing images was derailing their operation, an equally massive change was required. OSF HealthCare System quickly realized that by implementing a cardiovascular information solution (CVIS), the issues that were holding them back would be a thing of the past and their patients would be the ones to benefit.
Studies are in that the U.S. Healthcare industry is falling victim to a number of ‘operational inefficiencies’ that are causing massive amounts of financial waste each year. A previous report concluded that the Healthcare system in this country wastes almost $700 billion a year. Thankfully, there is a plan to turn this around and doing so could save $3.6 trillion in waste over the next decade.
The 5 strategies created to help reach this astronomical goal all revolve around revolutionizing practices that might be currently out of date or inefficient. In a lot of the strategies, the need for updated healthcare IT and modern medical imaging devices like PACS and CVIS could step into modernize care and boost efficiency. Here, briefly, are the 5 strategies:
The field of medical imaging and radiology is constantly evolving and advancing. In a fast-paced industry like healthcare, one of the best ways to stay up-to-date is to frequently check out available Journals and Radiology resources.
The British Journal of Radiology: The British Journal of Radiology is the official peer-reviewed monthly research journal of the British Institute of Radiology. The journal coversalmost every clinical and technical aspect of diagnostic imaging, radiotherapy and oncology, medical physics and radiobiology. Since it covers such a wide range of disciplines means readers can stay current with developments in their own fields as well as those that are related.
North Dakota’s congressional delegation has recently announced that the state’s IT department is receiving a grant of over $5 million to apply to medical records and imaging technology.
The grant is part of a much larger national effort to establish a health information exchange that will drastically improve the quality and efficiency of health care.
By applying money toward medical records technology and medical imaging, outdated equipment will be updated and digital records will be created that can be accessed instantly and shared easily. The ability for instant-access anywhere will reduce turn-around time and improve patient care.
The fact that meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has been getting a great deal of attention should come as no surprise. What might come as a surprise, however, is the fact that some stakeholders now worry that with focus so intently on the meaningful use of EHRs, other pressing issues are being overlooked.
According to new article on HealthDataManagement.com, meaningful use is having a huge impact on provider willingness or ability to take the steps needed to prepare for and comply with the new ICD-10 code sets.
In an industry where technology changes and advances at an impressive and varying pace, staying current with the latest news, research advances and technological innovations is important. Doing so, just got a whole lot easier with these two radiology resources. For even more publications or journals, be sure to drop by our full list of PACS, RIS and healthcare resources.
Journal of Radiology: JRAD is dedicated to free access to medical and scientific information from every side and angle of radiology. Covering everything from cardiac imaging to ultrasound, there are published articles spanning the breadth of radiology.
BMC Medical Imaging: This is an open-access journal that strives to publish original peer-reviewed research articles. They cover the development, evaluation and use of imaging techniques and various image processing tools that are used to help diagnose and manage diseases. Their quality is maintained through extremely high standards of review.
As the next-generation of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) are finding their way into the market place, many healthcare organizations are realizing the second time around can be much more complex when it comes to implementation.
The question is, what can organizations expect to see as far as changes between the two systems? A lot, according to an article from Health Imaging. But with calculated planning, the benefits of a second-generation PACS are predictable.
The article suggests healthcare organizations ensure a second-generation PACS:
- Provides HIPAA-compliant asset tracking
- Allows for teaching file and peer review documentation
Follow Us On Twitter
