Integrating PACS with EMR saves time, improves access to data
Recent research published in the Journal of Digital Imaging found integrating PACS with an electronic medical record (EMR) not only saved radiologists time—it allowed for more frequent EMR access and ultimately improve care.
Although the authors pointed out that EMRs are a valuable resource for radiologists, implementation costs and concerns over workflow disruption are significant. A lack of published data demonstrating its benefits has also stood in the way of integration.
“Radiology informatics experts have advocated for PACS-EMR integration for several years, but adoption has been slow,” wrote John Mongan and David Avrin, both with the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco.
The duo studied the time to access a clinic note in the EMR before and after integration at their institution. They found the time to access the EMR decreased from 52 seconds before integration with PACS to six seconds afterward.
Additionally, the proportion of studies with EMR access increased from 36.7 percent to 44.9 percent after integration. EMR use also increased over time following integration.
“This study showed that patient context integration of the PACS with the EMR significantly reduced the time for a radiologist to access clinical data in the EMR, and that this increased efficiency was associated with a substantial increase in EMR utilization by radiologists,” authors wrote.
Mongan and Avrin went wrote that PACS-EMR is not only convenient, but “should be considered an essential component of every PACS environment.”
“There is substantial aggregate time savings provided by integration,” authors wrote. “More importantly, these time savings organically drive changes in radiologist practice projected to change diagnosis in one out of every 200 cases read.”
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.