Choosing the right RIS to survive the health care reform

Health care reform is rapidly taking place. Cost-effectiveness is one of the key factors that determine who will survive and prosper. Under such a competitive business climate, information technology plays an extremely important role in the operation of tomorrow´s radiology department. Radiology information system (RIS) technology has been around for many years. In spite of its promise to maximize the utilization of resources and to boost productivity, only one third of all US hospitals currently have an RIS. One of the reasons that delayed the installation of RIS is the great confusion arising from the potential promised by new technologies and the fear of incompatibility with existing equipment. The University Medical Center Computer Department in collaboration with IDX has developed an in-house RIS over the past few years. For several months, an extensive survey of the commercial RIS products to replace this system has been conducted. With experience in in-house development and exposure to commercial products, this paper discusses the necessary functions that a good RIS should have and a checklist of important features in the process of selecting a good RIS