Have you recently installed radiological information system software at your radiology practice? Or, are you preparing to implement a RIS application solution any time soon?
Many radiology practices take to using RIS software because they realize the many benefits it confers, from scheduling patients to gaining easy access to scans and test results. But RIS software can be even more useful when you use it to make connections with other medical professionals.
Here is why connecting your RIS software with your referring physician’s electronic health record software is a smart idea.
Connecting with Referring Physicians
After a patient first seeks help at his primary physician, the doctor notes that some expertise is required from a specialist and refers him to your radiological practice. You will only be involved with this patient during a relatively short period, from the first encounter and diagnosis, to the development of a treatment plan, a series of tests and follow-up appointments. All along the way, the patient needs to keep his family doctor in the loop.
Your staff typically will spend an enormous amount of time gathering up patient records and putting together a set of images, such as X-rays and CAT scans in a package to send to the referring physician. You might have copies of these documents sent by normal mail or with an express service or even a courier if time is of the essence.
In many cases, one of your team members might have to spend time on hold, calling the referring doctor’s office to answer a question or provide a detail about the patient’s progress. That’s not a big problem when you only do it once or twice a day, but it can become an enormous time waster when an increasingly larger number of patients need to get details about their situation to the referring M.D.
Being able to fax the details may save a little time, but your staffers are still burdened with the task of outputting copies of the records when there is no provision to transmit them electronically.
Fortunately for your staff, you can establish a connection with the referring physician’s EHR software and your RIS application.
Now, the doctor can go through a physician portal and request access to such timely documents as a new test report or the latest X-ray or scan. The RIS and EHR systems connect to save the staff at both practices time and effort.
Keep Applications Updated in Both Practices for Best Results
It’s prudent for your radiological practice to keep the RIS software updated whenever the provider makes changes or fixes bugs. Likewise, the referring physician’s staff should be checking that its EHR application is updated too, so you will both be working with the latest versions.
This can help with compatibility and will make the workflow between the two practices go much more smoothly.
Make sure your RIS software provider and the EHR software provider stay on top of healthcare industry changes and the latest government rules and regulations and adjust the applications accordingly. Regular updates to improve the applications let you get the most out of their capabilities.
Making the switch to a RIS application results in your staff seeing more patients more quickly. You can use it to set up ongoing appointments to see each patient through the lengthy recovery process much more efficiently and access diagnostic imagery more readily. Beyond making things easier for your own staff, the ability to connect your RIS software to the EHR application used by the referring physician will improve how both practices treat patients.
Key Takeaway
- Using the latest available radiological information system software will improve how your radiological practice functions.
- You can treat patients better when the referring physician’s EHR system can communicate with your radiology practice’s RIS system.
- Immediate access to X-rays, CAT scans, chart details, and other information will keep the referring physician in the loop without unduly burdening either organization’s staffers.
