Hoag Hospital prides itself in being a cutting-edge leader in both technology and patient care. When Hoag decided to adopt a mammography information management solution, it required a vendor that could deliver the flexibility needed to interface with a complex array of hospital systems, transition the group to a paperless workflow, and support the high volume, high efficiency operation that Hoag envisioned. After a comprehensive review of all options, Hoag selected MagView.

During implementation, MagView was interfaced with Hoag’s Quadramed Affinity HIS, Siemens Novius RIS, PowerScribe dictation system, and Galvanon CVM patient tablet check-in system. The integrated system allows staff to order, begin and end all breast exams directly in MagView without switching to another system, and has proven very reliable, with 100% uptime in the two years since it was implemented.

MagView’s automatic tracking and outcome monitoring has helped Hoag track patients throughout its several facilities. What used to require gathering and comparing logs from all five facilities, is now accomplished automatically with the click of a button. Observes Cyndi Damo, Hoag Outpatient Manager, “It is extremely beneficial to have complete management and statistical reports available at any time, with up-to-date information.”

MagView has also helped Hoag implement an improved patient tracking workflow. “Thanks to MagView, we are much more proactive in scheduling patients for additional views and biopsies, as well as retrieving prior films. Every morning I print a report and immediately see all callback and biopsy requests from the day before,” states lead technologist, Sandra Hooks Reynaga, CRT(M) ARRT(M). “MagView provides a safety net to ensure all patients are followed-up.”

The radiologists at Hoag required a system that would allow them to create structured reports for all breast exams, including MR, breast biopsies, cyst aspirations, and needle localizations. Procedures that used to take several minutes to dictate now take Hoag radiologist’s less than a minute to complete with MagView’s structured reporting features. Since the implementation of MagView, Hoag’s 12 radiologists have used structured reporting for more than 95% of all breast procedures performed. Dr. Gary Levine, Medical Director, notes, “MagView’s structured reporting sounds like me when I dictate. It doesn’t sound like a computer. Plus, it’s quicker than dictating. That’s a big reason why MagView has become so valuable to our group.”

Click here to visit the Hoag Breast Care Center web site.

While MagView was clearly the solution within the breast center, it was vital that the mammography information system functioned as an integrated module within the health care systems Radiology Information System, Epic. The technical teams of MagView and Epic worked together to integrate the two systems and have them share real time patient information. “We engaged Epic and MagView to work together in order to establish a system that would meet our aggressive goals.  Epic delivers a hospital wide information system that allows us to effectively manage the patient throughout the enterprise.  MagView delivers the knowledge, expertise and solution set focused on our breast imaging environment.  By integrating the two systems, we have seamless data integration, and a complete workflow solution for our breast imaging group,” Levine added.

Another challenge on the implementation was the 10 plus years of data that had been captured in the mammography information system that was currently in place at MemorialCare. A vital part of any implementation of a new system is leveraging all of the previous data. MagView was able to convert all the patient history, demographics and prior patient reports so that when MemorialCare went live with their system nothing fell through the cracks and the physicians could reference past patient clinical data when reporting on new findings.

While today’s health care environment is focused on dedicated sub specialty health care, Levine feels that same approach should be taken with the information systems. By taking the best that each product does and integrating them into one integrated system it gives a true best-of-breed solution. “This allows us to deliver the very best in patient care, and the most efficient and effective system for radiologists, technologists and our breast imaging workflow.”

In the early 1990’s, the Breast Imaging Division of the Massachusetts General Hospital, under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Kopans, internally developed a system for mammography reporting, tracking and research. The system allowed the department to eliminate transcription, and provided full MQSA compliance. Over the years, MGH developed many enhancements to the system, allowing the system to serve their changing needs. In 2004, despite the fact that they were generally happy with the functionality of this system, they decided to review other mammography information systems, to see if they could find a system that suited their needs even better.

“Although our group was happy with the efficiency of the existing system for screening cases, we were looking for a single system that could improve the workflow and efficiency of radiologists for all breast imaging exams. We were also interested in improving the workflow for our Image Service Representatives, and achieving a broader level of integration with our other systems,” says Len Levine, Data Services Manager, and MagView Project Lead.

In reviewing Mammography Information System vendors, MGH focused in particular on the vendor’s ability to provide customized solutions to their specialized needs, and provide a high level of support, training and extended service. After thoroughly reviewing all available vendors and products, MGH selected MagView.

During the implementation process, the MagView team successfully met each goal which had been outlined in the project plan, including full integration with the IDX system in place; implementation of a rapid reporting macro system which MGH had previously designed; development of a specialized automated worklist management feature; development of customized pathology tracking features; implementation of an automated reminder letter system based on an interface with the existing scheduling system; and development of customized management reporting features.

Beyond the product features, Mr. Levine emphasizes the importance of service and support to MGH’s experience with MagView. “During the implementation process, many questions and requests came up, and almost always, the answer from MagView was, ‘Yes, we can do that’. MagView’s willingness to closely support the project, and provide customized solutions for our needs was key to making the project a very successful one for us.”