ACC: Amicas touts structured reporting module for cardiology
First introduced at ACC09, Amicas this year announced that 90 of its web-based structured reporting modules, Amicas Vericis clinical knowledge bases have been sold in the U.S., said the Boston-based company at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual conference in Atlanta.
In the past, physicians may have had different reporting tools depending on where the images were generated. The module however, facilitates reporting on all the cardiology modalities, said Sean McCarthy, director of acute marketing at the Boston-based company. “[The solution] breaks down those barriers so physicians can report on one platform for all the different types of studies,” he explained.
Baron Kuehlewind, cardiology clinical solutions engineer said that the knowledge bases allows the report to tell a story, complete with text, images and diagrams, and noted that many reports are not visually appealing and hard to read for referring physicians.
“The report is very descriptive and it’s not a bullet, block-statement kind of a report,” said Kuehlewind. “It builds in to a nice summary of findings, and that’s what a lot of physicians are looking for.”
McCarthy noted that system and the formatting is customizable and is able to match up to the way a particular site chooses to report. “[The knowledge bases] builds a complete report because its gathered all the data from the study and from the technologist, and we do not dictate to [the facility] how to report,” he said.
In addition, the system can improve the workflow of the physician and technologist, as well as speed report turnaround time because the system is web-based, noted Kuehlewind.
“If the technologist has to manually enter the data, you have room for error,” he explained. “The system allows the physicians and technologists to be more efficient and the structured reporting allows for a higher quality of care because you have less room for error.”
Facilities report quarterly to the ACC, and McCarthy noted that a staff member is typically responsible to collect the required information to be sent to the college. While this process can take someone a day, he said that the system electronically gathers the data, dictates where the gaps are and quickly exports it. “This can be done in one hour,” said McCarthy.
“Structured reporting has not been as readily adopted by physicians and one of the reasons is because people don’t think it’s easy,” noted McCarthy.
In the past, physicians may have had different reporting tools depending on where the images were generated. The module however, facilitates reporting on all the cardiology modalities, said Sean McCarthy, director of acute marketing at the Boston-based company. “[The solution] breaks down those barriers so physicians can report on one platform for all the different types of studies,” he explained.
Baron Kuehlewind, cardiology clinical solutions engineer said that the knowledge bases allows the report to tell a story, complete with text, images and diagrams, and noted that many reports are not visually appealing and hard to read for referring physicians.
“The report is very descriptive and it’s not a bullet, block-statement kind of a report,” said Kuehlewind. “It builds in to a nice summary of findings, and that’s what a lot of physicians are looking for.”
McCarthy noted that system and the formatting is customizable and is able to match up to the way a particular site chooses to report. “[The knowledge bases] builds a complete report because its gathered all the data from the study and from the technologist, and we do not dictate to [the facility] how to report,” he said.
In addition, the system can improve the workflow of the physician and technologist, as well as speed report turnaround time because the system is web-based, noted Kuehlewind.
“If the technologist has to manually enter the data, you have room for error,” he explained. “The system allows the physicians and technologists to be more efficient and the structured reporting allows for a higher quality of care because you have less room for error.”
Facilities report quarterly to the ACC, and McCarthy noted that a staff member is typically responsible to collect the required information to be sent to the college. While this process can take someone a day, he said that the system electronically gathers the data, dictates where the gaps are and quickly exports it. “This can be done in one hour,” said McCarthy.
“Structured reporting has not been as readily adopted by physicians and one of the reasons is because people don’t think it’s easy,” noted McCarthy.