COST SAVINGS SEEN IN OPTIMIZED DEPARTMENTAL WORKFLOW
By Geoff Flynn
In an effort to stay competitive and address cost issues hospitals and medical centers in
the US have experienced major consolidations over the past 15 years. The average consumer
is more educated and more involved in their own medical care decisions. While reimbursements
to healthcare providers are becoming more complicated, the costs of healthcare continue to
grow at an alarming rate. All of this is creating cost management pressures that have never
been seen before. Addressing these issues with today’s available technology without an
optimized departmental workflow could create more financial hardship than necessary. An
optimized departmental workflow could, potentially, increases cost savings while reducing
patient wait times.
To optimize workflow in radiology departments, it is highly recommended that you start
with a careful analysis of the current workflow to determine areas of duplication and
inefficiencies. Duplication of efforts and inefficient utilization of department resources
contribute significantly to the “budget drain”. Quality analysis not only reveals the
source of inefficiencies and duplication but creates an opportunity to determine if it is
possible to take advantage of system integration. Integration can not only lead to less
duplication and increased efficiency but decreases patient wait times while increasing
patient safety. One example of integration is the use of radiology information system (RIS)
patient tracking monitors. Most RIS products have such modules but more often than not they
are under-implemented and looked upon as trivial. As the average wait time for patients is
reduced more patients can be seen in the department increasing equipment utilization.
Duplication of effort and patient wait times are simultaneously reduced as technologists are
immediately notified of patient arrival allowing the registration/order entry staff to
concentrate on processing patients.
Radiological interpretation, exchange of information to referring doctors and poorly
implemented systems integration remain one of the biggest challenges to optimized workflow.
Voice recognition software nicely addresses the turn around time for interpretation. There
are a variety of voice systems available but all of them share one thing in common; the need
for adequate implementation timeframe and extensive voice training. With voice activated
commands a radiologist can interpret patient results in a fraction of the time previously
seen with digital dictation systems. This decreased turn around time provides more efficient
exchange of information with referring doctors allowing the treatments or intervention to
happen sooner. This helps reduce patient hospital stays which further reduce overall
hospital costs.
CPOE is another system integration that improves efficiency, streamlines patient care,
and improves patient satisfaction. CPOE through contra-indication checking and duplicate
order warnings reduces patient risk while allowing for the exchange of information about
patient care. Increased patient safety is the largest benefit of a CPOE system. The CPOE
orders are specific and generally provide the radiologist with exact clinical information.
CPOE being tightly integrated with RIS is typically seen with orders immediately appearing
on a radiology worklist decreasing variances while improving decision support for the
radiologist. It is recommended a thorough analysis be completed prior to any CPOE/RIS
integration implementation. A poorly implemented CPOE and RIS integration could compromise
patient safety which may prove to be very costly to hospitals.
If you would like to explore implementation optimization, un-installed integration or
further analysis on existing systems, Vitalize Consulting Solutions can help. Please contact
us at our corporate headquarters at (610) 444 1233 or
vcs@getvitalized.com.
Source: The synthesis Project, Policy brief # 9. This brief demonstrates hospital
consolidations and it’s affect on cost.