Mobile features coming in cardiology
There are no clear-cut market leaders among the current crop of cardiology reporting and documentation systems, said Jeremy Bikman, director of imaging and advanced technology for KLAS. While Bikman said he has not seen very many new features, he noted that vendors are starting to look at the increasing demand for remote reporting access. Bikman said vendors should also look to improve their statistical or management reporting capability for quality control and quality improvement. The following ranked list for cardiology reporting and documentation systems is based on The Top 20: 2005 Year-End Best in KLAS report. The July issue of Healthcare IT News went to press before KLAS released its June 2006 report. Please consult the June 2006 report for the latest ranking.
Philips Medical Systems
Physiomonitoring & Information Systems (formerly Witt Biomedical Calysto
KLAS Rank No. 1
Features: With the recent acquisition and integration of Witt Biomedical, our cath lab portfolio has expanded to include user-friendly physiomonitoring and reporting systems that received three 2005 KLAS awards, including “Best in KLAS” for Cardiology Reporting & Documenting. Series IV streamlines workflow with connectivity, patient monitoring and the ability to collect and integrate extensive data at the point of care. More than 1,000 distinguished facilities worldwide use this efficient technology for millions of procedures annually.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? The integration of Series IV and Xcelera is underway.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? Yes.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? Yes. In addition to ACC and STS, we support reporting for ICD registries.McKesson
Horizon Cardiology
KLAS Rank No. 2
Features: McKesson’s Horizon Cardiology cardiovascular information solution (CVIS) improves clinical workflow, enables informed decision-making and facilitates access to comprehensive electronic health records. Horizon Cardiology aggregates images and patient information from all cardiology imaging modalities and information sources into one central system. Horizon Cardiology’s unique open platform permits the acquisition, storage, interpretation and management of images, reports, waveforms and information from a variety of imaging and information systems.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? Single database.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? This functionality already exists in our system.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? Yes.
GE Healthcare
Centricity Cardiology Data Management System
KLAS Rank No. 3
Features: Centricity DMS handles patient scheduling, invasive laboratory inventory management, result reporting, charge capture, and data management across many cardiology specialty areas. Centricity DMS fully integrates to many associated IT clinical and business systems including electronic health records, PACs, billing and ERP systems, along with imaging modalities. Centricity DMS is also capable of powerful data queries, allowing for data presentation in different formats. The DMS also forms the engine for data harvest output to the STS and ACC registries.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? GE provides redundancy by employing a strong integration between clinical data reporting and PACs solutions.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? GE currently provides an enterprise solution that can span the imaging data needs of both radiology and cardiology.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? GE Healthcare is a certified vendor for both ACC and STS.
Xcelera
Xcelera Cardiology Information Solutions:
KLAS Rank No. 4
Features: Philips Xcelera Cardiology Information Solutions provide multi-modality image viewing and archiving, 2D and 3D quantification, advanced measurements and trending of those measurements throughout a patient’s history. Xcelera has extensive, customizable reporting for the unique needs of adult and pediatric cardiovascular medicine, diagnostic and invasive modalities. Xcelera also provides a broad range of administrative reporting options, database mining capabilities and support for registries and accreditation requirements. Xcelera solutions are currently installed in more than 1,600 sites worldwide.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? Single database.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? Yes, in the near future.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? Yes, both ACC and STS using Xcelera Cath Lab Management’s ACC and STS reporting modules.
Cardiovascular Heartlab
Agfa Heartlab
KLAS Rank No. 5
Features: Agfa Heartlab Cardiovascular information management system helps cardiologists make informed decisions faster. The industry-leading solution provides enterprise-wide image management and digital reporting for multiple cardiac modalities, long-term archiving, web-based technology for anytime/anywhere access to information, and smooth integration between clinical and hospital information systems.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? Yes. This is one of the design advantages of the Agfa Heartlab Cardiovascular System. The Oracle database, which in addition to managing all of the clinical informatics associated with the exam, provides the multi-user, multi-modality image management functions. The database stores data file pointers as multiple UNC paths (e.g., IP addressfilepath), which provides for transactional access to an unlimited number of work stations and an unlimited number of connected image modalities.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems?
It is already available in our enterprise-wide Agfa installation. In this case, IMPAX for Radiology and Heartlab for Cardiology are integrated and share data. In addition, there are two methods (both available as options) for retrieving data from other PACS systems:
First is via DICOM query and retrieve. Second is by connecting via URL to the PACS’s web product. The second option is the preferred method because it provides a patient-centric view into the other PACS system. This is accomplished by adding a tab to the Heartlab Review Station user interface for related studies. The user, while viewing the cardiology study for a patient simply clicks on the tab and chooses the study he/she wishes to see. If the study exists in the Radiology PACS, the web browser for the PACS will be launched within the Heartlab Review Station window. The physician can then take advantage of all the viewing/analysis tools provided there.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? Yes. These options are available as modules of Heartlab Results Management.
Emageon
HeartSuite VERICIS
KLAS Rank No. 6
Features: The HeartSuite VERICIS system provides a comprehensive solution for managing images and information spanning cardiovascular care. Consisting of imaging and clinical reporting applications for Cardiac Cath, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiography and Vascular Ultrasound, HeartSuite VERICIS is a comprehensive cardiology solution for any department. This solution is scalable and expandable to suit any size department. Capacity and functionality can be added as required with new data sources and users–both on and off site–integrated seamlessly into the network architecture.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? The HeartSuite VERICIS system provides the user with a single integrated image review and clinical reporting application.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? The HeartSuite VERICIS cardiology system has the capability to share data with radiology systems today. Now as one company (Emageon-Camtronics), the future Emageon EVMS platform will be a truly integrated cardiology/radiology solution.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS? Yes, Emageon is a registered vendor for the ACC Cath PCI Registry and is not currently a registered STS vendor.
Siemens Medical Solutions
syngo Dynamics (formerly called KinetDx)
KLAS Rank. No. 7
Features: syngo Dynamics is a multimodality, dynamic image review and archiving system using evidence-based reporting to improve the efficiency of clinical procedures. The system offers immediate access to cardiology and ultrasound imaging studies and reports at diagnostic workstations. syngo Dynamics can effectively and seamlessly integrate patient digital imaging information throughout the entire cardiology imaging department and the hospital-wide enterprise, allowing clinicians, technologists and administrative personnel to improve workflow efficiencies.
Do you provide a single database or an interface to multiple databases for image management and reporting? syngo Dynamics uses a single database for image management and reporting.
In the future, are you planning to share data between radiology and cardiology systems? syngo Dynamics currently supports Radiology Ultrasound and can utilize the Siemens syngo Imaging Archive for more cost-effective use of infrastructure. Future plans do include a synchronized Radiology and Cardiology product offering.
Do you provide outbound reporting capability to the national registries at ACC and STS?
Yes, through third-party products.