Benefits of the Technology
Improved Information and Communication
Wakefield Radiology has much better information management due to the RIS and PACS. Patient details can be easily accessed from any location, and information can be transmitted to remote radiologists or medical practitioners easily and quickly over the Internet, and at any time. The time it takes to move images between different locations has been cut down from days or weeks to minutes. Waiting for the physical file to arrive no longer restricts movements in patient information. This enables vastly improved connectivity between different branches and departments (e.g. accounts, radiologist) within Wakefield Radiology and also between the organisation and external medical practitioners.
Another real benefit of the RIS is the audit trail feature. This tracks every action that is performed on a file, so that information such as who first greeted the patient, the invoice amount and type of payment, right through to what day and time the report was emailed to the patient's medical practitioner can be accessed. The RIS hence assists with staff management, sales analysis, and accurate responses to any queries.
Efficiency Increase
Trevor claims the new technologies have resulted in an increase in efficiency at Wakefield Radiology. The time spent filing, finding and retrieving patient files has been reduced substantially, and the need for file clerk staff has been eliminated by the RIS. The quantity of paper and other materials that were needed under the blue folder system has been cut dramatically and, as a consequence, costs associated with file materials (e.g. paper, folders etc) and storage have decreased significantly. PACS overcomes earlier problems such as lost films and time delays in the distribution of images and the associated costs of these.
Improved Quality and Customer Service
The use of digital imaging has resulted in higher quality images, especially bone and soft tissue detail. This improved quality of images has been commented on by many of their referring doctors, physiotherapists, and other medical professionals.
The technology used at Wakefield Radiology allows x-ray images to be taken with either no radiation or a lower radiation than previously. For example, computerised radiology allows a potential 20 percent reduction in radiation dose compared to traditional imaging techniques. This translates to increased safety for both patients and radiographers.
The RIS allows better prioritisation of report writing for radiologists. Under the old system, reports were prioritised according to the order in which the film packets were presented to the radiologist. Radman allows priority marks to be attached to urgent files, so that the patients who need urgent treatment have their reports written and sent out to referrers as quickly as possible.
Overall, Trevor believes that the new technologies have resulted in better service and quality and that this results in considerable benefits for patients. This has translated into increases in patient numbers and growing market share relative to the competing practices simply because of the faster turn-around times for both imaging and report creation as a result of PACS and RIS. These service quality improvements are shared amongst both patients and their referrers, resulting in tangible benefits for the health sector, some of which cannot be measured in financial terms (e.g. quicker access to diagnosis and thus treatment).
Competitive Advantage and Market Share
Trevor claims that being at the forefront of technology has increased Wakefield Radiology's competitive advantage substantially. He believes that the productivity gains resulting from their leading edge technology and equipment has increased market share, with revenue increasing from $3million to $12million in the last seven years. He also estimates that the knowledge of staff at Wakefield Radiology has increased the value of the business by about 10-15 percent over what a comparable practice would be worth in the absence of the technology.
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