Ensemble enables IMSI’s breakthrough application for radiologists

 

Integrated Modular Systems Inc. (ImSI), a leading integrator of medical imaging and healthcare technology solutions, has developed a breakthrough application that allows radiologists to “go paperless”, and that significantly reduces turnaround time for reports. imsiVOICe-Interactive™ with Onelist™, running on the InterSystems Ensemble® rapid integration platform, combines information from one or more radiology information systems (RIS) and picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) with wireless digital dictation software. the result is an interactive paperless environment that helps radiologists work through their case load faster and reduces reporting errors.

Radiologists generally have complex workflows that require interaction with multiple applications. Study requests are managed by the RIS. the images to be analyzed are managed by PACS. Dictating a report, checking the result, and routing it back to the requesting physician usually require another separate system. multiply this by dozens of cases per day, originating from different sources, and keeping track of everything can be a challenge.

“Mark Jundanian, M.D., Chairman of the Medical Imaging Department at Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago, came to us with a vision of what he wanted a radiology reporting system to do,” says John mazur, President of IMSI, “which was basically to control the entire reporting workflow from a single interface. We’ve been using ensemble as our product development platform for several years, and Saint Anthony Hospital was already using our hosted RIS, interfaced with their PACS and HIS. It was relatively easy for us to connect those systems using HL7 and DICOM. Then, we added an interface to our wireless digital dictation system.”

The imsiVOICE-Interactive solution includes OneList, which ties images from a PACS to the current work requests and patient information from the RIS. to those, it attaches audio files from the dictation system, and passes them to the transcribers or voice recognition software. Once the radiologist reviews and approves the report, it is routed back to the clinician who made the work request. Regardless of the status of any given case, or how many cases are in process, imsiVOICE- Interactive presents the radiologist with the information they need. “imsiVOICE-Interactive always knows when multiple studies are open in PACS and which of those images I’m looking at,” says Dr. Jundanian. “It knows which studies I’m dictating on and warns me if I’m viewing the wrong images. this has dramatically reduced reporting errors.”

“Because imsiVOICE-Interactive is based on Ensemble, we can deploy it anywhere.
Ensemble lets us connect to anything.”

- John Mazur
President
IMSI

“It’s vastly more efficient than the previous system,” Dr. Jundanian continues. “We don’t have to wait for paperwork. We get the requisition information immediately on opening the study in PACS, including a list of all prior studies. One click and you have the prior report. Contact information for the ordering physician, its right there. Using imsiVOICE-Interactive has reduced turnaround time for reports by twenty percent.”

John Mazur is delighted, but not surprised, with the success of imsiVOICE-Interactive. “With Dr. Jundanian’s help, we gave the radiologists at Saint Anthony Hospital exactly what they wanted,” he says, “and we wound up with an application that radiologists everywhere will love. but the real beauty of it is, because imsiVOICE- Interactive is based on Ensemble, we can deploy it anywhere. It doesn’t matter which RIS or PACS a radiologist needs to access to do his job, or even if many different ones have to be accessed. Ensemble lets us connect to anything.”