I came across an article in Imaging Economics titled “Surveys Show Paper Legacy Tough to Shake”
What caught my eye was the second paragraph statement “A new Stark exception allows hospitals to donate health information technology in the form of an EMR to private physicians.”
I was wondering if the definition of “EMR” could be extended to radiology web viewer? Is this possibly a mechanism for providing the necessary hardware (PC), software and connectivity services to the referring physician office to get them to stop requesting paper and film?
The article is worth reading as it explains why “more than 50% (hospitals) continue to print and distribute paper lab and imaging reports.” This does not come as a surprise to me, but it occurs to me that if so many hospitals are still printing paper radiology reports, a similarly large number must also be distributing hardcopy images.
Clearly the success of a Radiology PACS depends on turning off a large percentage of hardcopy and getting the referring physicians to access images and reports from their offices electronically. I have long argued that the cost of providing a suitable PC and basic connectivity services is more than paid for by the value of the hardcopy. Many clients were concerned about the Stark implication. Is this exception an opportunity?
The article goes on to explain that 62% of hospital executives surveyed in February said their organization had no plans to donate technology. “They’re waiting to see how the government changes the landscape. How will it affect their nonprofit standing, that kind of thing.” Once again, I think this is a shortsighted point of view. The continued printing of hardcopy films is certainly affecting their bottom line. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to legally equip their referring physicians with a much less expensive method to access images and reports?