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Study Reveals Radiology Information Systems Improve Patient

Release Date: Oct 16, 2009

Rochester, N.Y.—October 16, 2009—A new field study coauthored by a senior faculty member at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester, with a doctoral student, finds thatusing a radiology information system (R.I.S.) significantly improves clinical information gathering, thereby allowing for quicker interpretation times, higher physicians’ productivity and improved patient service. This is an important result, given the ongoing debate on the added value of new investments in advanced medical technologies.

The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology andcoauthored by Abraham Seidmann, Xerox Professor of Computers and Information Systems and Operations Management at the Simon School, and Atanu Lahiri, M.S., discovered that R.I.S. provides faster reports turnaround times by cutting down on the number of medical interpretations that are unnecessarily delayed due to a lack of appropriate clinical background information.

            “A properly configured R.I.S. queries the patients and referring physicians for all the relevant case history and current medical conditions at the time of scheduling,” Seidmann says. “Thus, the necessary background clinical information—which is typically case dependent—is collected before the exam goes to the radiologist for interpretation. In particular, we found that this technology allows patients to get their exam results in half the time after the procedure, rather than having to wait days. This is a big deal for patients. All these benefits are observed despite the fact the actual radiologist cycle time per case might even increase after the R.I.S. installation. Yet, the analysis in the paper shows that when most cases are read only once, the overall results are superior for physicians and patients alike.”

            Since the introduction of R.I.S., the number of mammography cases delayed in the practice studied by the researchers decreased from about 8 percent to 2.5 percent according to Lahiri.

            “Until now, no existing research has provided a clear quantitative picture of how a filmless clinic benefits from a commercial R.I.S.,” Lahiri says. “Our results prove that the positive impact of R.I.S. goes beyond its ability to automate minor tasks and to replace paper with computers.”

            In addition to the advantages for patients, the study shows that radiology practices also benefit since they are able to improve or maintain their service level without hiring more radiologists.

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