Analyzing the Differential Impact of Radiology Information Systems Across Radiology Modalities

Although the additional time needed to navigate through the RIS screens might have (unexpectedly) increased the radiologists' interpretation cycle times, the overall benefits of the RIS outweighed this negative effect in this study. Before the RIS installation some clinical background information was not available to the radiologists at the time of interpretation. As a part of the RIS implementation the radiology practice introduced several disciplined data collection procedures to make such information readily available downstream. These procedures significantly reduced the percentage of mammographic studies that had to be put on hold, increasing radiologists' overall performance and income. The effectiveness of any RIS solution, therefore, significantly depends on systemwide analyses of all relevant performance metrics and also on the creative implementation of new clinical and administrative workflows.