If Meaningful Use requirements have got you down, don’t feel alone – many providers, especially in rural
areas, are struggling. By developing an effective plan, some are pulling out of the mess and delivering excellent results in their efforts to comply with Meaningful Use.
The biggest complaint or hurdle seems to be money. The smaller providers, such as the designated critical care facilities, have historically been challenged by a lack of resources both in personnel and money. The providers at these facilities are just trying to deliver quality care and image management at a cost that isn’t prohibitive. However, following the various requirements in Meaningful Use only makes the day-to-day operations all the more stressful. What can you do to see less heartache and more success?
One of the first things you need to consider for better image management and compliance is changing how your patients engage with your various healthcare teams. For instance, you can have your IT team(s) work on building better relationships with doctors and staff. This helps open a line of communication that leads to better understanding of how IT can improve interaction with patients. Second, you need to establish a timeline of events that will set the stage for getting all Meaningful Use requirements followed to the letter. This should involve setting goals and having clear milestones set out in front of you.
Meaningful Use is focusing on keeping patients engaged with their healthcare providers, which means you’ll need to be able to produce a written report of every radiological procedure and have it available to the patient within 24 hours. If you’re partnered with the right technology, this is not going to be an issue. However, many rural providers are struggling with this portion of Meaningful Use because their current system isn’t built to deliver reports to patients so fast.
Most providers in rural areas are citing a lack of quality IT staff to help them not only with image management and Meaningful Use, but with everyday needs. One way around this is to take your solutions offsite. For instance, instead of trying to manage all your medical imaging in-house, use an offsite vendor and have everything stored in a reputable data center. With providers behind on Stage 2 of Meaningful Use as Stage 3 looms in the very near future, it’s obvious that finding a low-cost method of transmitting images and reports will need to occur offsite.
If you look to what providers are getting by joining the Missouri Health Image Exchange, it becomes obvious why going offsite makes a difference. They are finding it an excellent tool for streamlining their processes and clinical workflows. Better yet, they’re seeing better patient care through constant access to studies, reports and images. As long as you have a web-enabled device, you’re going to be set for a constant stream of information.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., is the force behind many of these offsite solutions that rural providers are taking advantage of. They’re finding that their lack of funds and personnel are suddenly not such a big issue anymore because OffSite offers low-cost, yet quality solutions that require zero in-house IT maintenance.