By Marianne Matthews
Just a few weeks ago, I walked away from the SIIM 2015 meeting feeling a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. In the film, the character finds himself living the same day over and over again. Something similar was afoot at SIIM 2015. I kept thinking, haven’t I heard that before? …Haven’t we been here before?
You see, the big buzz at SIIM 2015 centered on the importance of enterprise imaging in today’s era of collaborative care. Healthcare providers from facilities large and small were talking about how the smooth sharing and storing of diagnostic images— across the institution and beyond their walls with other institutions—was so key to improving quality and outcomes.
However, so many of these providers kept saying things like, “we want to do it—but where do we start?”
The fact is, many providers are still clueless about how to develop and implement a comprehensive enterprise imaging strategy that goes beyond technology and addresses governance as well. And that refrain—where do we start?—threw me into a time loop. It put me in mind of exactly what healthcare providers were all saying back in 2011 when they were faced with developing a strategy to achieve meaningful use.
In a sense, enterprise imaging is meaningful use all over again. It’s the latest, greatest tech challenge in healthcare—especially for imaging informatics and healthcare IT professionals. Achieving meaningful use wasn’t easy, but many providers and facilities have indeed done it. Finding and developing an enterprise imaging strategy will be no easy feat either. It’s going to take trial and error, human and financial investments, and yes, collaboration.
So let us know what your organization is doing on the enterprise imaging front. Post a comment about your challenges and/or successes. Share your story with industry colleagues—right here, right now. Or, ask a question. You just might get some of the answers you need.
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Marianne Matthews is chief editor of AXIS.
