Elizabeth Bergey, MD, a diagnostic radiologist at Quantum, chairman of Quantum’s Board of Directors, president of the physician group, and CEO of the professional corporation, lists the questions radiology practices should be asking when evaluating orchestration software. She spoke on her practice's use of radiology worklist orchestration software to smooth workflow at the Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) 2022 annual meeting.
"We are still thinking in terms of lists, when we should be thinking in terms of an entire environment, and we are thinking in terms silos because that is the way we had to work for so long," Bergey said. "So when talking to a vendor, make sure their system is used to pinging multiple archives between VNAs, PACS archives or wherever the images are stored."
She said a vendor's system also needs to be able to open exams regardless of their format or compression. Bergey said some vendors save things like mammograms in proprietary formats.
Another suggestion is to eliminate creating a worklist that the radiologist then works off of during their shift and use a more dynamic system. She said the workflow orchestration system her practice uses sends studies that need to be read to specific radiologists throughout the day based on service level agreement (SLA) turn-around-times, STAT reads, the radiologists availability and their expertise.
"Our system constantly is looking at the work, and as things bubble up to the top the system sends it to the best available person," Bergey said.
Read more about workflow orchestration and how it can help eliminate cherry picking on radiology worklists in the article How to prevent cherry picking on radiology work lists.
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Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com