From the January/February 2020 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Where to next?
Radiology is a complex operation and will always require some software application to manage it. But what is likely to change in the near future?
Reading worklists will probably continue to become increasingly sophisticated to squeeze even more productivity out of radiologists. They will incorporate new information, like upcoming clinical appointments and clinical data, to prioritize which exams get read first. Emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI) may play a large role here.
Direct reporting into the EMR, instead of a reporting solution, is already happening in some cases — for example, for breast imaging and cardiology. While the current state-of-the-art in EMR-based reporting may be less desirable than traditional solutions, the benefit of eliminating an application and the structured nature of EMR-captured results (for clarity, data analysis, and AI applications) hold promise. This transition will take time and effort to provide a good user experience.
For independent reading groups, and even some enterprises, the use of cloud-based RIS, or specific functional modules of a RIS, like external order and results exchange, is likely to become more prevalent. Using a cloud solution provider for all the IT infrastructure and application management, combined with a pricing model that aligns with actual usage, reduces the capital expense requirements on the organization.
Regardless of the form that RIS takes (if we even use that term in the future), the need for solutions that provide highly efficient workflow for radiology is not going anywhere anytime soon.
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