NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For some time
now, CDs have been the standard way to share patient images, but
they are quickly becoming antiquated in light of newer, faster,
cheaper digital solutions. There are numerous problems with using
CDs for medical image sharing ranging from using the patient as a
transport vehicle to slowing the development of a care plan in
critical trauma cases where images are needed stat and time is of
the essence. According to Logicalis Healthcare Solutions, the
healthcare-focused arm of Logicalis US, an international IT
solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), the
solution is to adopt an electronic image exchange solution as well
as an improved workflow that streamlines the addition and
availability of patient images to the local Picture Archiving and
Communication System (PACS), vendor neutral archive or other
imaging systems.
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To learn more, download a Logicalis+Ascendian imaging
eBook, "Driving Positive Change in Healthcare," here:
http://ow.ly/XXI9D.
"If there was just one thing I could tell our healthcare clients
about using CDs for medical image exchange, it's that there is a
better way," says Kim Garriott,
Principal Consultant, Healthcare Strategies, for Logicalis
Healthcare Solutions. "This is an important discussion
healthcare CIOs need to have today; it's about better communication
and care coordination, better clinician satisfaction, and
ultimately better patient satisfaction as well. It provides a more
secure way to transfer sensitive patient information. And it's also
about a stronger bottom line: Depending on the volume of CDs an
organization is producing or receiving today, a digital solution
can be a much more cost effective way to share images. If a
medium-sized hospital receives 30,000 CDs a year at a processing
cost of $10 per CD, that's
$300,000 a year for a single
organization just to receive CDs. At those rates, a
digital image exchange solution could literally pay for itself with
significant money to spare year over year with the added advantage
of creating happier physicians and patients in the process."
Enterprise Imaging: Four Steps from CD to Digital
A
digital image transfer solution can have numerous advantages over
CDs, but four crucial steps must be taken up front to ensure that
the new solution will result in an improvement to the delivery of
care.
- Examine Current Practices: When considering a change,
it's important to understand current practices and the
opportunities that exist for improvement. Who is receiving
the CDs today? What workflows are being used? How are the
images being integrated into the local PACS or other imaging
solutions? Are any departments using image exchange portals?
- Prioritize Use Cases: In this step, the goal is to
identify where the greatest impact on patient care and clinician
satisfaction can be made. CIOs must talk to doctors and identify
physician champions in critical service lines; a departmental
champion and physician buy-in will be needed to change
workflow.
- Make Workflows Routine: When developing an image
exchange workflow, attention must be paid to developing a seamless
integration with existing clinical processes. In an
electronic image exchange solution, as images arrive, they go to a
"sandbox" – a holding area where they wait for "triage" where a
human being ensures they open and that they are indeed medical
images. But a process is needed that allows clinicians to request
images be moved from the sandbox to local PACS for retention with a
single mouse-click from within the EHR; this is where a well
thought out workflow becomes critical to success.
- Select Standards-Based Solutions: Purchasing a solution
should only come at the end of a very thorough investigation when
the solution can be shaped based on a true understanding of the
organization's varied use cases, priorities and requirements.
Selecting a standards-based solution also clearly depends in large
part on what other organizations need access to the same
images.
Want to Learn More?
- Read an expanded version of the four steps involved in moving
from CDs to digital imaging solutions in Kim Garriott's exclusive pre-HIMSS blog,
"Medical Image Transfers: There is a Better Way," at
http://ow.ly/XRBSR.
- Find out why an enterprise imaging strategy should be part of
every healthcare CIO's EMR optimization plan:
http://ow.ly/XPv7G.
- Talk about your own imaging strategy with Logicalis' top
healthcare IT experts at HIMSS (booth #10915 at the Sands Expo in
Las Vegas), then register to take
part in a Logicalis Enterprise Imaging Executive Workshop:
http://ow.ly/XPvaX.
- Hear Logicalis' Kim Garriott
speak before and during HIMSS:
- February 23 Pre-HIMSS Webinar:
"Mobile Device Image Acquisition and Access"
- March 1 Panel: "Understanding the
Challenges of Enterprise Imaging"
- March 2 Event: HIMSS-SIIM
Enterprise Imaging Joint Workgroup Meet-Up
- March 2 Live Presentation, Agfa
Booth #2647 at 3 p.m.: "Going Mobile
– Tips to Streamline Mobile Device-Based Imaging" (similar content
to February 23rd
webinar)
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT
solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge
and expertise in communications and collaboration; data center and
cloud services; and managed services.
Logicalis employs over 4,000 people worldwide, including highly
trained service specialists who design, deploy and manage complex
IT infrastructures to meet the needs of over 6,500 corporate and
public sector customers. To achieve this, Logicalis maintains
strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM,
EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow on an international
basis. It has specialized solutions for enterprise and medium-sized
companies in vertical markets covering financial services, TMT
(telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare,
retail, government, manufacturing and professional services,
helping customers benefit from cutting-edge technologies in a
cost-effective way.
The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North
America, Latin America and
Asia Pacific and is one of the
leading IT and communications solution integrators specializing in
the areas of advanced technologies and services.
The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on
the Johannesburg and London AIM
Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $6
billion.
For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.
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Media contacts:
Lisa Dreher, VP, Marketing &
Business Development,
Logicalis US
lisa.dreher@us.logicalis.com
425-201-8111
www.us.logicalis.com
Karen Franse, Communication
Strategy Group for Logicalis US
kfranse@gocsg.com
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com
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SOURCE Logicalis US