If we think about radiology, there are all kinds of interactions that don’t work very well today.
Currently, there’s a procedure step performed with DICOM that doesn’t seem to be widely implemented. This particular area could be augmented with FHIR.
Example: There may be discrete data located in a DICOM SR or trapped in an ultrasound. Using FHIR, this data could be accessed through a second API on the PACS that could provide metadata or structured report data about the DICOM image.
Specifically, in terms of the PACS, significant data can be extracted via FHIR APIs. Workflows can also be affected in unique ways, such as the modification of orders or notifications of the presence of a new order.
To learn more about how FHIR APIs are changing health data exchange, download our whitepaper: The future of interoperability: Web APIs & HL7 FHIR.
Radiology has a challenge because most practices are reading from multiple institutions. The ultimate goal is to have a unified work list – a single place to go and see the list of things that need to be read. The problem is that there are no APIs currently in use; meaning that a large part of that work list integration is incredibly difficult because getting access to the source of data is nearly impossible.
Looking beyond PACS, radiology workflow has the potential to be deeply improved with FHIR API’s ability to communicate with various systems at the source of truth, rather than simply depending on the current push model of data exchange. Corepoint Integration Engine is deployed in a large number of radiology clients to assist in solving these workflow problems.
