On the road to creating a film-less, paperless, and errorless environment for imaging at BWH, Percipio—the web-based outpatient radiology order entry and scheduling system—is a major advancement. BWH is currently in the middle of a major implementation with this system, which will result in numerous efficiencies for physicians and enhanced care for patients. In addition to making requests and scheduling of imaging studies easier for the referring physicians and their support staff, the new system will ultimately help reduce unnecessary or redundant imaging tests.
Integration of Percipio with Centricity—a web-based image viewing software built by GE Medical Systems and released at BW/F last summer—is allowing BWH physicians and their support staff to order, schedule, and view the text and images of radiology studies directly from their computers and at the point of care. “Percipio and Centricity are critical tools in helping BWH close this year’s budget gap by improving capture of important demographic and clinical information at the time of test ordering to improve billing collections, as well as by helping us aggressively reduce film costs,” said Ramin Khorasani, MD, MPH, vice chairman of the Department of Radiology and the medical director for the Center for Evidenced-Based Imaging.
Currently more than 3,400 radiology examinations are requested each week through Percipio by physicians in 38 practices, with BWH emergency room converted to using Percipio in early October. The system will be made available to remaining BWH affiliated practices and those at Faulkner Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute later this year. The implementation teams work closely with each practice to ensure smooth transition from paper to computerized order entry and scheduling in accordance with hospital policy announced earlier this year.
“These innovative technological advances associated with imaging are designed to improve efficiency and quality of care and help improve the overall patient care experience at BW/F,” said Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, BWH president.