Optimal Report Communication with Referring Physicians and Patients

Case Study portal4med, Radiology Mühleninsel, Landshut, Germany

For many years, the Mühleninsel joint imaging center in Germany has relied on well thought-out, holistic solutions from radiology workflow specialist medavis, which are seamlessly connected. With around 65,000 examinations per year, the Mühleninsel is a major player in the field of outpatient radiology in Eastern Bavaria.

The introduction of the radiological information system (RIS) in 2002 marked the beginning of a partnership characterised by continuity and trust. A referrer and patient portal as well as an appointment booking portal – all from medavis – complement the classic RIS/PACS solution.

portal4med – Quick Communication with Referrers …

With the Referrer Portal, the first medavis web application was put into operation in the Mühleninsel joint imaging center in 2017.

The referring physicians have personal access data and can thus view the reports and image data of their patients in the integrated viewer immediately after release. This eliminates waiting times and many referrers order their patients back directly after the appointment in the radiology department.

When the portal was introduced, it became apparent that radiology first had to do some active convincing, because change always requires a certain overcoming of habits. „Today, about 60 referring doctors are connected with us. Most of them use the Referrer Portal very frequently and welcome the modern way of communication,“ explains Professor Dr. med. Andreas Lienemann, managing partner and specialist in radiology at Mühleninsel.

„Many also appreciate the possibility of importing the reports directly as a PDF into their own practice systems, for example for the digital patient file. This is already a great advantage over the previously common fax. On the other hand, they can download the radiological images and import them into their own PACS. From the very beginning, it has been shown that this functionality in particular is frequently and gladly used by many doctors.“

With the connection of an additional diagnostic viewer from Visus, the range of functions has been significantly expanded compared to the standard viewer. For example, cutlines and measurement functionalities are now available, which are particularly important for referring orthopaedists or in the operating theatre.

Manuel Hanke, IT manager at the Mühleninsel joint imaging center, adds: „On the IT side, I am particularly impressed by the fully automated transfer of images and reports from RIS and PACS to the portal – this works completely without our intervention.“

… and More Service for Patients

After the Referrer Portal, the Mühleninsel imaging center also introduced the portal4med Patient Portal from medavis in 2021. The system, which is perfectly integrated into the workflow, offers advantages for all involved.

Already at registration, patients receive access data to be able to see their reports online. It is an important concern of the imaging center that every patient has a finished report in his or her pocket when leaving the imaging center after the examination – now online. „This allows our patients to view their reports and images at any time from any location without any effort and share them with doctors of their choice,“ says the radiologist.

“An additional plus: The inconvenient and in the long run cost-intensive burning of CDs, which also run the risk of being forgotten or misplaced by patients, is no longer necessary, and patients no longer have to wait until their CD is ready.“

To ensure data security, 2-factor authentication takes place and access can be cancelled in the Patient Portal if the ticket is lost. As this is highly sensitive patient data, the Mühleninsel imaging center also works with its own servers. This has the advantage that access to the data and images can be controlled in-house. Hanke adds: „When it comes to outpatient radiology, nothing works without us in two large counties. This makes it all the more important to responsibly deal with the trust that patients place in us. Especially due to the requirements of the GDPR, we appreciate the in-house hosting of the portal, as we always know on which servers our data or those of our patients are stored – on ours, actually!“

In general, the portal, which offers users protected and self-determined handling of their own data, is well received. Younger people in particular, with their self-evident online competence, are happy to take advantage of this new offer – and the trend is increasing.