Completely Digital Workflows from Appointment to Image and Report Transmission

Case Study RIS, Radiologie Oberland, Hausham, Germany

medavis User for 22 Years

medavis enables a continuous integrated workflow with RIS and web-based solutions.

Radiology Oberland has been collaborating with the IT provider medavis for 22 years. While other colleagues in the industry have since switched RIS and PACS several times, the medavis Radiology Information System (RIS) continues to grow in line with the demands of the imaging center.

In 1998, when the partnership was established, Dr. Roland Scheck, a specialist in radiological diagnostics, was already part of the imaging center in Hausham, Germany. At that time, he chose medavis as a company because it best matched the clinical needs of the institution, which provides radiology and nuclear medicine services for the rural region. “This has been affirmed time and again over the years,” recalls the radiologist. “You can see that the heart and soul of the employees is attached to the product and that it has been meticulously developed over the years. This is why our partnership spans over more than two decades.”

The imaging center was one of the first institutions that deployed medavis RIS in combination with their work at a hospital. Dr. Scheck, who had just graduated from university, used the initial phase to incorporate ideas and functionalities into the software himself. “Above all, I wanted to optimize our processes, to create a smooth workflow in the system, in order to save as much time as possible.” Despite the increasing number of users, medavis still reacts as flexibly to the needs of its customers as it did in the past. Many innovations are now incorporated into the system on a quarterly basis after the quality assurance has been passed.

Optimal Referrer Retention

Since December 2015, the imaging center also uses portal4med from medavis. Each of the more than 100 referrers who regularly use the portal have access to the reports and images of their patients. “Since the referring physicians‘ data is already stored in RIS, administration is very simple. I generate a password for each referrer or for the entire practice and make it available,” Dr. Scheck explains the procedure. The radiology workflow has not changed for him and his team since the introduction of the web portal. When reports are released for referrers that are not registered in the portal, RIS automatically triggers a fax transmission or CD creation. For referring physicians registered in the portal, on the other hand, the reports and images are fully automatically uploaded to the portal, so that they are immediately available online – without any loss of time or media disruption.

“Overall, we have received very positive feedback from our referrers who use portal4med – especially since the images can be accessed immediately after they have been created. In addition, our referrers find the software, its functionality and the image viewer very good and easy to use,” says Dr. Scheck summarizing his referrers‘ responses.

“The portal ensures a worldwide distribution of images and reports in excellent quality, also with the possibility to download original DICOM files. The portal offers efficiency if you want to exchange secondary opinions with colleagues or if a patient has forgotten his CD with the images. In this case, the appointment does not have to be cancelled, within a few minutes the referrer has access to the images and the results,” says Dr. Scheck, describing a significant advantage. Of course, the patient must give his consent beforehand. Dr. Scheck can also define how long he wants to share the patient data with the corresponding colleague.

Appointments Around the Clock

The internal processes from orders to billing and reminders have already been completely digitized, so an online appointment booking solution was the next logical step. “We are very satisfied with our online booking system that we have been using for six months now. We were able to significantly reduce the heavy workload of our telephone operators at the reception desk,” says Dr. Scheck.

With booking4med, patients and referring physicians can book appointments online around the clock. Referrers simply log into their user account, patients confirm their appointment with a TAN, which is automatically sent to their mobile phone after their booking request. This allows appointments to be arranged quickly and easily. Once integrated and set up on the website, the solution works autonomously. The online appointment process runs parallel to and ideally complements the telephone appointment process.

The radiologist‘s satisfaction is also based on the seamless workflow – made possible by the deep integration into medavis RIS. Patients or referrers open the website and select the examination needed. Then they choose an available appointment, which is automatically reserved in the medavis RIS scheduler.

Next, the system asks for specific patient information and provides information about the facility and the booked examination. Finally, contact details must be entered and verified. This is followed by an automatic appointment confirmation and the appointment is permanently entered in the RIS scheduler.