OffSite Takes the Miscommunication Out of Teleradiology Services
Teleradiology has swept the map. Today, many radiologists working in disparate locations only
know the patient from their images. For some healthcare providers, this is the trend that they prefer to make permanent. For others, an in-house radiologist or radiology team is a part of their system.
Some organizations want their radiologist on-site so they can have conversations with doctors, nurses and patients. It’s a hands-on approach that allows for an in-depth explanation of exam results. It is also a priority to protect patients and anyone in proximity of the radiology equipment from exposure to radiation. On-site radiologists are able to better protect, establishing investigational techniques that will ensure safety.
Larger hospital systems might have the luxury of an on-site radiology unit, but for rural providers with limited budgets and a lack of human resources, this may not be possible. This is why the teleradiology industry has been growing. There are more than 2,000 critical access hospitals out there today, and many of them are a perfect fit for teleradiology.
One of the problems healthcare providers encounter when they use teleradiology is that there is a lack of communication, which means when they send an exam out, they don’t know if it got to where it was supposed to go. They have no tracking device that allows them to follow the progress of the exam. Teleradiology is inherently complex, and establishing a tracking system was not at the forefront when the technology was designed.
Another problem with teleradiology is that when you need to change the priority of an image, how do you notify your service? If there is no communication, you may have to settle with the status quo.
The best teleradiology services, and not many offer this, bring you an efficient workflow management solution that works with multiple radiologists who need to scale up or down on any given workday. Worklists should be available and accessible from anywhere, and through a browser agnostic and zero-footprint model.
If you don’t currently have access to technologists’ notes, there is a new technology in place that makes them available through a customer portal where you can view notes and easily interact with radiologists. You also need to look for a solution that allows you to prioritize exams, move exams on the reading worklist, deliver exam reports directly to the electronic medical record, and auto fax exams to the referring providers. One vendor is offering voice recognition and self-editing capabilities.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., is that vendor, and we have established TeleRad360, a new platform for teleradiology. Our solution is a comprehensive service that meets the needs of radiologists and customers alike. It’s a data management service that allows you to manage data coming from multiple facilities. Furthermore, it’s an excellent workflow management system that is completely customizable. Contact us today and find out more about how it will work for you and your patients.