Today, most computers don’t even have a CD drive. So why are providers still giving patients a CD copy of their medical images when there is an easier, no cost way to deliver them?
When most people are going online for everything from groceries to banking, healthcare seems to lag behind. As a provider, consider the many benefits of giving patients online access to their medical images. Not only for your patients, but for your practice, as well.
Here are seven benefits of providing patients with electronic access to their medical images:
1) Not burning CDs can save money and time
The cost of providing electronic access is almost always significantly cheaper than burning a CD. In addition to not requiring shipping costs, and providing immediate patient access, your staff’s time is no longer consumed by the process of burning, labeling and mailing CDs (which is often doubled when patients need another copy when theirs is lost or damaged).
2) Faster access to images
Mailing a CD takes time, and sending it overnight is incredibly expensive. Providing electronic access to images can be immediate. In addition to being more cost effective, this is generally more convenient for the patient and their referring physician, and, in situations of a critical illness, can make a significant difference in health outcomes.
3) Avoid damaged, incorrect or lost discs
Across the healthcare industry, we have witnessed a substantial percentage of discs that are not useable. The issues range from damaged media, to incorrect labels, wrong patient information, or simply lost discs. On top of delaying progress in caring for the patient’s condition, these issues result in duplicated costs for the provider as they must remake and resend a copy of the disc.
4) Better image viewing
With an electronic system, the physician (or patient) viewing the image is not relegated to the often limited-function viewing software included on the CD. Electronic access with a fully featured, FDA-approved, ubiquitously available web-based viewer enables an accurate read.
5) Patients avoid unnecessary radiation
When patients forget or don’t bring their media when visiting with their specialist, they often get reimaged. This is expensive and subjects the patient to duplicate radiation from a new scan. Providing images electronically would prevent this unnecessary exposure and cost.
6) Physicians avoid missed appointments
Most physicians carefully schedule their day, trying to efficiently handle patient appointments. When a patient forgets or misplaces a CD, or if the CD doesn’t work, this may prolong the visit or delay the appointment or procedure. This can have enormous scheduling and financial implications for the provider.
7) Effective long-term storage
We all know patients who have shoe boxes full of CDs from their various scans. Once an image is made available electronically, the patient and/or his or her physician can have continual access for extended durations, obviating the need to store and keep track of individual CDs.
An online patient portal like ours gives your patients the ability to view and share their images with their referring physician or specialist, saving you the hassle and headache of burning a CD (and of course that inevitable duplicate) and helping them make sure it gets to the right place. You can get rid of the headache completely and offload the entire process to the Purview team, from customer support to all the technical work, so your staff is freed up to focus on their daily operations and save you money.
