We’re More Alike Than We Are Different – Day 2 at #RSNA15

As I’ve continued my virgin journey at the massive RSNA (radiology) conference, I continue to be struck by how the challenges radiologists face are so similar to the challenges that are faced around healthcare IT. Here’s a look at some of them I’ve heard so far:

Data Standardization – In the EHR world we’ve been talking about data standardization forever. In the imaging world the challenges are very much the same. There are large and small vendors and the same challenge of trying to get them all on the same page. I do think imaging is a touch further along than the EHR world when it comes to standardization. However, they still have a ways to go too.

Workflow – Creating the right process for capturing and documenting the image is a major challenge. Getting the image to display at the right place and the right time is also a challenge. Sounds a lot like all the other EHR data doesn’t it?

Patient Engagement – This one really surprised me. In fact, some radiologists argue that the patient doesn’t want to interact with the radiologist, but only wants to interact with their referring provider. However, I’ve heard over and over from people about the opportunity for radiologists to really engage the patient. I think it’s a slightly different engagement, but all of healthcare IT is talking patient engagement.

Privacy and Security – The breach is just as strong in imaging as it is in all other health IT.

Smart Use of Data – There’s a feeling that we need new systems to process all the imaging data in a better way and that we should present only the data that’s relevant and necessary to the situation. In other words, exactly what we’re trying to do with the patient’s entire medical record. In fact, I think the smart use of data has to apply across all of a patient’s data from imaging to consumer collected data to EHR data.

Data Trust Issues – We trust radiology data, but as Kim Garriott, Principal Consultant of Healthcare Strategies for Logicalis Healthcare Solutions pointed out to me, the same isn’t true for a lot of other imaging data. There’s still a lot of work to do to ensure that the capture of other data from ultrasounds to scopes is done in a way that other providers can trust that data. Sounds exactly like our discussion around trusting EHR data.

I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the challenges are very much the same even if it sometimes feels like another world. We’re more alike than we are different. It’s just easy to focus on our differences. I think there’s a lot we can learn from each other.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

   

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