PROJECT INTRODUCTION

There is a growing demand for remote reading services across the US.
Whether on-site or remotely, fellowship-trained radiologists of X-RAY GUYS from Buffalo, NY, provide reading services across all modalities - CR/CT/MRI/US/DEXA/CT-PET - and all sub-specialties across the US. X-ray guys is a radiology partner of the global health organization TEAM HEALTH and provides remote readings for large scale healthcare providers like Austin, Rochester, Western New York Immediate Care, AccelCare, Niagara Falls Memorial, Medina Memorial, After Hours Imaging, Urgent Care Now and many more... The company was founded in 2010 and grew during the past years much faster than the market average. The final report turnaround time was 2 hours for emergency care cases using FUJI SYNAPSE and 12 hours for outpatients in 2010. The reading volume grew from 40.000 cases in 2010 to 300.000+ studies in 2013.

GOAL

The goal of this project was to speed up the remote reporting, to scale up the systems performance for 300.000+ studies per year and to provide a complete and integrated platform to referring physicians.

CHALLENGES

There was no efficient data compression available for the growing volume and no PACS support of structured reports available. There was a missing central reading list for the whole group and no portal to referring physicians. The group insisted on Google Chrome as a standard browser.

iQ SOLUTION

MEDNET and IMAGE could provide a complete and integrated solution:

A bundle of iQ-SYSTEM PACS with Clario's unified worklist broker zVision. The package consists of:
 

• iQ-ROUTER for data compression of all feeding lines using JPEG LS data compression to optimize the bandwidth use.
• iQ-WEBX Central server to host 300.000+ studies per year
• iQ-RIS for managing the scheduled workflow and EMR interfaces like MedHost® and AllScripts ®
• an online schedule which permits seeing who the reading radiologist is, using zVision
• direct contact information for the reading radiologist
• an integrated chat feature for communicating instantly and directly with a radiologist at any time
• an integrated chat feature for communicating instantly and directly with all facilities, technologists, and referring providers
• a portal for viewing reports and passing information to radiologists
• a physician portal for use by their referring physicians

Preliminary and final report delivery is made according to healthcare providers preferences, whether by FAX, email, EMR or online via our portal. Reports are automatically converted into DICOM structured reports, attached to the original study, and forwarded to native (or hosted PACS for ready review and distribution.

The on-demand hosting service makes any healthcare providers PACS capability a marginal operational expense rather than a substantial up-front capital outlay. This reduces the risk exposure by paying on a per-patient basis. There are no minimums and are structured to grow with each practice.

The hosted PACS solution iQ-WEBX has no limitations on users, groups, number of images, bandwidth, or modality type. The data center supports the fastest dedicated internet connections available with speeds of 150/75 Mpbs over a pure fiber-optic network with secure (SSL) and HIPPA-compliant connections. iQ-SYSTEM PACS allows 'anytime, anywhere' multiple logins and viewing utilizing Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. We used an ActiveX plugin for Google Chrome in order to make the iQ-X thin viewer available for Google Browsers. Images can even be accessed with any Apple or Droid tablet or phone using iQ-WEB2GO, allowing for private consultation with the patient in an exam room without the need of a computer.

The data center uses state-of-the-art hardware solutions with a unique infrastructure, which is built on HP and Cisco technologies, it has never been easier to transfer, archive and retrieve images using iQ-SYSTEM PACS. With full power generator backup, 24x7 monitoring, high-end security systems, highly trained technicians who specialize in medical networking solutions, and redundant off-site storage, health care providers can be assured that their medical data is safe and secure and available when they need it, wherever they need it.

RESULT

The system has an uptime rate of >99.99% so far since 2008. The average report turnaround time could be optimized to less than 20 minutes for urgent cares facilities and hospital emergency rooms (!) and to less than one hour for outpatient care. The provided system is ready for 600.000+ studies per year for future growth.

SUMMARY

Dr. David Ludwig, President and Director of operations, summarizes: "In order to provide excellent service to our facilities, we needed a solution which streamlined studies to radiologists and finalized reports back to the clients. Our old method was archaic and inefficient in sending reports to the referring providers. We all became frustrated with the old system and needed a much better solution. With Med-Net's foresight, we were able to integrate Image Products, Clario zV and Dragon into an efficient reading platform. We are all thrilled with the final results.....and so our our facilities!"

Mark D Perry, Finance Director: "Servicing 40 sites with different PACS, RIS systems and dictation modules was very costly. By capitalizing on Image Systems and Clario zVision, we were able to significantly reduce our operating costs. In addition, we have increased radiologist productivity and decreased their stress levels at the same time. "