PODCAST:KLAS Finds RIS Implementations Have Many Flavors

RIS decisions are being pulled in three different directions depending on a facility’s priorities, according to a recent KLAS report, RIS in the Middle: The Integration Tug of War. Those directions include:

• an integrated RIS/EMR strategy where data is housed on a common clinical platform
• an integrated RIS/PACS for the imaging department
• a feature-rich standalone RIS solution capable of being implemented and interfaced within the existing environment

Some in radiology believe that an integrated RIS/PACS setup is a silver bullet, marrying integration with end-user functionality, finds KLAS. On the other hand, IT administrators push for RIS/EMR solutions in order to build a patient-centric workflow across the organization. Both strategies have pros and cons, and both must still have an interface — either the RIS/PACS to the EMR or the RIS/EMR to the PACS, the report finds.

Click on the Player Below to Hear a Podcast Interview with Report Author Ben Brown

Community hospitals and ambulatory organizations tend to be a mixed bag of standalone solutions, integrated RIS/PACS, and integrated RIS/EMR. Several RIS vendors have tailored their offerings to the specific needs of this target market, according to KLAS. Clinic decisions tend be dominated by the radiology department and lean more towards the PACS/RIS integration with deeper operational functionality for the radiologists.

Sixty-three percent of respondents indicate their RIS has the necessary functionality, but providers list four key functionality items on their RIS wish list:

• management reporting tools
• flexible scheduling
• rollout of promised mammography tools
• critical test results management (CTRM) functionality

Among the twenty-three RIS solutions tracked in the report, Epic Radiant ranked number one for large hospitals (200+ beds) with an overall performance score of 82.0 out of 100. Siemens syngo Workflow and McKesson Radiology Manager ranked second and third, respectively. Avreo interWORKS and NovaRad NovaRIS tied for the highest score (83.3) in the community hospital market segment with GE Centricity RIS-IC taking the third highest ranked position.

FUJIFILM Synapse Information System was the highest ranked ambulatory RIS system with an overall score of 87.8, followed by Swearingen Software RISynergy in second place and MedInformatix RIS in third.

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