Vital Signs - December 2002

Physician Weblink

New Technology Transforms Radiology

by Robyn Campbell-Ouchida

As the largest radiology practice in the Southern Nevada area, Desert Radiologists provides service to four hospitals and one integrated health delivery system. The company, founded in 1966, is currently comprised of 27 radiologists, with more scheduled to join the group in the near future. With four outpatient facilities and plans for a fifth, the company’s 10 outpatient radiologists read approximately 230,000 studies per year.

In 1998, in a move to improve its efficiency, Desert Radiologists contracted with eMed Technologies, a provider of image management, teleradiology and Web technologies for radiologists. The collaboration resulted in the installation of an on-demand, multi-site

Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) infrastructure. This system for storing and distributing digital medical images replaces standard X-ray film and allows images to be viewed within minutes and sent via computer to a centralized archive where physicians can quickly gain access to them. With the PACS system, a patient’s diagnostic images, as well as the physician’s diagnosis and comments, can be stored and viewed. These images can also be compared with prior exams to better track the patient’s condition and progress.

Desert Radiologists was the first company to bring Web-based image and report distribution to referring physicians and is now upping the bar once again, with the offering of Physician Weblink. This online comprehensive solution provides image and results distribution over the Internet to specialists, hospital departments and referring physician practices. Physician Weblink provides fast and secure access to images and reports anywhere, at any time. It can be used for review at a clinic, at home or at a physician’s office.

"Once an image is obtained from the scanner, a copy is sent to Desert Radiologists’ main archive," said Tim Vargas, the company’s radiology manager and Web server project manager. "When this happens, a duplicate image is produced and automatically sent to the Web server. At this point, it is ready to be accessed and viewed by subscribing doctors." Once a participating physician has been assigned a password and sign-on information from Desert Radiologists, he or she is able to utilize personal computers with Internet browsers to gain fast access to Physician Weblink’s results. This makes radiology response immediate.

The product offers physicians the convenience of being able to view patients’ test results immediately, eliminating the hassle of obtaining hard-copy film. Likewise, Physician Weblink eliminates the time and expense of using delivery services. Results of medical procedures, including CAT scans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) images, can all be inspected through Physician Weblink’s Website.

"We hope that Physician Weblink will replace the primary dependence on film," said Vargas. "The most expensive commodity in healthcare today is time – the time of physicians and patients. By eliminating the wait as well as the common hassles that film often brings, we hope to help physicians improve their efficiency and service to their patients."

Desert Radiologists is helping to transform the business of radiology through this product. The service was made available by October 2001, and since that time over 200 user accounts have been created. "The doctors are grateful to have the same imaging tools as radiologists and have really embraced Physician Weblink," said Vargas. "It is a time-saver because it gives them a hands-on approach to images without the usual wait."