How to Easily Unlock Your NovaPACS/RIS for Cardiology

A unified PACS worklist with an unlocked NovaPACS combines cardiology testing—typically performed in the cardiology department—with radiology testing, including chest X-ray, heart CT, and heart angiogram. Fortunately, unlocking this add-as-you-grow platform is simple.

Without an Unlocked NovaPACS

A unified PACS worklist with combined cardiology and radiology testing is critical for workplace performance. In her blog, Dr. Eunice Minford examined the growing fragmentation within healthcare, saying, “I have witnessed many changes in medicine over the last thirty years—one of which has been the increasing fragmentation of medicine despite the increased focus on holistic medicine. This fragmentation is across the board and exists on many levels.”

As medical knowledge continues to expand, more doctors are focusing on a single specialty, like cardiology or radiology. While their niche expertise is vital, they’re losing a necessary understanding of outside specialties, and the human body is no longer treated as a whole. The implications of a divided medical approach are significant. Dr. Minford writes, “A patient can end up being seen by many doctors focusing on the parts with no one doctor addressing the whole of the patient and their needs.”

Due to the growing number of multi-symptomatic cardiology patients, the need for a full workup is heightened. Without the ability to view all of a patient’s symptoms, diagnoses lose accuracy and positive treatment outcomes decline.

As mergers and acquisitions within cardiology increase, fragmentation escalates. No longer are hospitals leading cardiology acquisitions; private equity firms are also consolidating cardiology. In doing so, they “provide access to capital and expertise as they seek to improve their investments both financially and operationally by building out the infrastructure to provide a foundation for growth,” explains Provident Healthcare Partners. In January 2019, the first large-scale cardiology acquisition by a private equity firm occurred when Comvest Partners and Athyrium Capital Management acquired Sunset Cardiology through multispecialty portfolio company IMC Health Medical Centers.

Due to the low industry concentration and the growing number of Americans living with heart disease, cardiology is a primary target for consolidation. Heart attack risk factors—including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity—are increasingly prevalent in the US, with over 18 million American adults living with coronary artery disease. Assisting an influx of at-risk patients, cardiologists require the interoperability and collaboration necessary for improved patient care.

Cardiology departments continue facing challenges spawned by fragmentation and consolidation as they struggle to meet regulatory requirements, quality metrics, and productivity goals, The Journal of Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology reports. Initiatives to consolidate various cardiology IT solutions have been hindered by poor clinician workflow and a lack of structured reporting. A pivotal KLAS report states that cardiologists want to streamline workflow improvements with structured integration and customizable, automated documentation.

The Benefits of an Unlocked NovaPACS/RIS

As pay-for-performance efforts and value-based payment models become more common, it’s critical that cardiologists possess an unlocked NovaPACS. With the option to build as you grow, unlocking your NovaPACS/RIS for cardiology is uncomplicated and inexpensive. Addable modules enhance cardiology efficiency with full interoperability and integration with the EMR/EHR, eliminating the hindrance caused by fragmentation. Automation of viewers with backend intelligence creates a connected diagnostic experience for clinicians, enabling them to provide holistic full-body care. The vendor-neutral informatics connects healthcare, integrating with existing hospital EMR for the refined interface.

With virtual collaboration, cardiologists gain access to imaging experts, including a collection of digital and accessible results. IT workflow improves with a vendor-neutral interface system, enhancing performance and flexibility. A unified PACS worklist also combines all cardiology testing.

With an unlocked NovaPACS, cardiology and radiology department testing are no longer separate. Now all testing—including chest X-rays, heart cat scans, and heart angiograms—can all be completed from the same location. Decision-making is improved as cardiologists gain access to the entire medical workup and easily accessible data. Patients can schedule various types of cardiology studies and testing in the RIS, gaining the ability to schedule heart scans, ECGs, and stress echo studies in the same system, upgrading care coordination.

Unlock your NovaPACS to gain a comprehensive cardiology system with streamlined workflows, eliminating the need to master and operate multiple software containing patient data. With a single-click workflow, structured reporting, an auto display of prior studies, and smart report-building and diagnostic tools, the needs of cardiologists are met. Furthermore, cardiologists can launch the intuitive and efficient structured reporting tool directly from the NovaCardio Diagnostic Image Viewer, so they can work from both solutions seamlessly while reducing errors, eliminating repetitive entries, and producing automatically populated data and measurements.

Unlock your NovaPACS—built for cardiologists by cardiologists—to improve workplace efficiencies while providing valuable full-body patient care.

Here at Novarad, we believe that the key to a successful imaging center is to work smarter, not harder, to deliver the type of care and outcomes that patients desire.

To see how we can help improve your workflows, feel free to reach out to our workflow specialists today!