For health care providers with multiple imaging locations, it's the next stage in the evolution of radiology services: a virtual radiologist hub that serves each link in the imaging chain.

While current technology supports radiologists' ability to work from home, office or the hospital, their productivity is hampered because they must access separate patient work lists for each location they serve, as well as interact with other user interfaces for each radiology information system (RIS) and PACS platform. System-wide productivity is also stifled by the lack of a unified global work list, which can cause some radiologists to sit idly while others struggle with a large backlog.

Radiologists and clinicians need an interface that unifies disparate RIS/PACS solutions to facilitate reading and reporting, and a global work list that further streamlines workflow by balancing imaging exams across all available radiologists.

The new approach

Vendors have tried unsuccessfully to create ways for disparate imaging and information systems to communicate. Carestream Health is taking a new approach by developing an overarching radiology infrastructure that interfaces with existing and disparate RIS and PACS throughout the enterprise. This flexible, affordable solution achieves desired efficiency and productivity gains without requiring facilities to replace existing platforms, including RIS and PACS.

In this environment, each disparate PACS platform communicates with the overarching radiology layer. The new infrastructure will collect information from each PACS database and create a centralized virtual database that allows authorized clinicians at any location to access patient data.

This architecture supports a global work list that prevents duplicate reading and allows all radiologists to see the list of unread exams, regardless of where each exam was performed or is stored. Load balancing of the global unread studies is easily achieved among the available radiologists. Priorities can be programmed into the system so that radiologists with specialized training, expertise or preferences can be offered these types of exams with higher priority. Business dashboards can help health care facilities track and improve efficiency by monitoring the number of studies each radiologist reads; the time he takes to read each type of study; the average read times per type of exam; idle time and other details of imaging workflow.

Matching up

This information will help facilities match radiologist resources to workloads and account for the extra time needed to read larger and more detailed imaging studies. The use of a single interface for quality reading and reporting can greatly improve radiologist productivity, which in turn can facilitate faster report turnaround and more responsive treatment.

In addition to virtualizing information from disparate RIS/PACS, this new solution can be expanded beyond radiology to include other "-ologies." Giving clinicians access to pertinent patient records--including various forms of imaging exams and non-DICOM data--enables a more holistic view of the patient.

Implementing an infrastructure that allows existing imaging and information systems throughout the enterprise to share data through simple network configurations improves efficiency of radiology services--without requiring replacement of existing systems. Achieving convenient access to multiple aspects of patient care data is also essential to the provider.

Our initiatives can benefit health care providers through better utilization of existing personnel and equipment while simultaneously enhancing service to referring physicians and, ultimately, helping provide better patient care.

Neville Skudowitz is PACS product line manager for Carestream Health Inc., Rochester, N.Y.