With the ever-increasing operational costs and decreasing insurance reimbursements, it’s been very difficult for the average medical imaging practice to increase profits. That’s why it’s increasingly important to improve efficiency wherever possible to increase yield and decrease expenses in the process. With that said, here are four RIS/PACS features that can help your imaging practice increase revenue, maximize efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction:
1. Certified EHR
Is your current RIS/PACS a certified EHR? If the answer to this question is no, you could be at risk of losing a substantial amount of income. With the new government MIPS and MACRA requirement, this is a must have feature.
2. Electronic Documents
Can your RIS/PACS system create and store electronic documents? If the answer to this question is no, you could be wasting valuable time and money locating and storing paper documents. Having a central storage system for electronic documents will make your staff more efficient and save on paper and printing costs.
3. Appointment Reminders
Is your current RIS/PACS capable of sending automated appointment confirmations? If not, your staff could be spending a large percentage of their time doing phone confirmations. This practice can and should be automated to increase the efficiency of your staff.
4. Physicians’ Portal
Do your referring providers have access to a web-based physicians’ portal that can easily be integrated into their EMR? If the answer to this question is no, then your staff is likely burdened with unnecessary phone requests for your patients’ medical records. Having this feature as part of your RIS/PACS can decrease CD burning, and courier and shipping costs for medical records. This feature is also an excellent PR tool that can help increase customer satisfaction.
If your RIS/PACS already has these great cost-saving features, I would suggest that you use them in your practice to maximize the value of your system. If you find that you don’t have access to these features, you may want to consider finding a RIS/PACS vendor that can help you.
