Dear customers!
We are glad to inform you that a new version of EMSOW has been released this week.
[#17642] Notifications about failed report delivery
Sometimes the system fails to send a report to a referring doctor by fax. This may occur for various reasons, but whatever they are, from now on you will be immediately informed about the failed delivery. If the report has not been delivered, EMSOW automatically sends you an email notification, recommends to resend the report manually, and provides the necessary instructions.
[#17923] Report design based on study type and insurance
We have updated the Report Design Rules module. Now EMSOW can add different letterheads to image interpretation reports for different study types and insurances. Other conditions that you can use in the rules include reading doctors, referring doctors, and branches.
[#18023] Corrected CLM01 field length
We have reduced the length of the CLM01 field in X12 files to 20 characters. The standard length can be up to 38 characters, but claims with this field longer than 20 characters are frequently rejected. Now, this typical issue is eliminated with our latest update.
[#16480] Received date correction in the PACS storage
Before this update, sending a study for reading might cause a change of the received date in the PACS storage, due to the conversion of attached paperwork into the DICOM format. From now on, the system disregards the creation date of the automatically generated DICOM files and keeps the original date of image upload for easier search.
[#17998] Deleted studies in Statistics
The updated Statistics module keeps track of deleted studies in the Details window. The deleted studies have a warning sign, indicating the name of the user who deleted the study and the removal date. This will help you track the deleted studies for accounting purposes.
Bugs & Stability
We have improved the stability and performance of EMSOW and fixed a few bugs.
Dear customers!
We are glad to inform you that a new version of EMSOW has been released this week.
[#17990] “Documents” button and context menu item are back in the Technologist Portal
We have returned the “Documents” button and context menu item to the PACS section of the Technologist Portal. Just a reminder: in the previous release, we made it possible to create non-DICOM studies (such as EEG, EKG, NCV and SSR) from the Technologist Portal, without giving technologists access to Processing. Please keep the feedback coming!
[#17944] Time tracking for night shifters
The EMSOW clock-in system does not automatically reset an employee’s session at midnight anymore. We believe night shift workers are going to love this—now they won’t have to check out before midnight and check back in to keep their work hours counted.
[#17968] Print CMS-1500 forms without red lines from the Billing Information window
From now on, our users can print CMS-1500 claim forms without red lines from the Processing module. Double-click a service to open the “Billing Information” window and click the “Print form only” button in the row of the required claim.
[#17976] Prefix for Claim Submitter’s Identifier
We have added a new option to the settings of billing companies, which allows to add a prefix to the CLM-01 segment of electronic claims (which corresponds to Box 26 of the 1500 form).
If you are using more than one billing system, you can use this feature if you want your clearing house to identify your EMSOW site as the claim origin, in order to sort or split remits. If the clearing house supports it, you will receive only those ERA files that are intended to be posted in EMSOW.
By default, EMSOW uses Service IDs as Claim Submitter’s Identifiers.
[#17922] Statement of account reason
Now you can add a “Statement of account reason” line to account statements, in order to explain the reason for receiving the account statement to the client, e.g. “We have not been paid on this claim because your insurance company sent payment to you.”
To take advantage of this feature, please send us the list of possible reasons that you want to use, and we will add it to your configuration. Then, the system will prompt you to select a reason when you click “Print” → “Account statements” in the Billing module.
[#17928] Use user links to assign technologists to studies
From now on the system will automatically assign technologist records to studies by using the “Technologist” link of the user who has uploaded images. This will allow to print the technologist’s name on reports and preliminary reports without having to edit services in Processing.
[#17463] Phoned/faxed icon and filter in Dispatch
Dispatchers are now able to indicate if someone has phoned or faxed regarding an ordered case. The corresponding icons are displayed in the grid of the Dispatch module. Also, users can apply a filter to see those cases that have not been marked as “faxed” or “phoned”.
[#15944] Replication for studies with multiple identical CPT codes and modifiers
We have made it possible to replicate studies that include more than one identical CPT code. This should fix certain billing errors in replicated EMSOW domains.
Bugs & Stability
We have improved the stability and performance of EMSOW and fixed a few bugs.
Dear customers!
We are glad to inform you that a new version of EMSOW has been released this week.
[#17905] Transportation and setup codes in Billing
We have added an ability to bill for the transportation and setup of diagnostic equipment by adding HCPCS codes R0070/R0075 and Q0092 to claims.
[#17244] Create document-based studies from Technologist Portal
Now our users can enter patient information, create studies and attach files in the Technologist portal. This will allow technologists to create EEG, EKG, NCV, SSR and other types of studies that do not contain DICOM images right from their individual accounts, without asking administrators to upload paperwork from the Processing module.
If you would like to schedule training on the new functionality for your technologists, you are welcome to contact our support.
Bugs & Stability
We have improved the stability and performance of EMSOW and fixed a few bugs.
Dear customers!
We are glad to inform you that a new version of EMSOW has been released this week.
[#17465] Patient address autopopulation
We have upgraded the autopopulation algorithm for patient addresses in the Processing module. When you are adding a new service, EMSOW automatically fills patient address fields in the following ways:
You can also populate the patient address for existing studies by clicking the ‘Facility’ and ‘Patient’ buttons under the address fields.
[#17911] Provider access to the Billing module
From now on, your doctors and providers can review billing information for their patients by logging into your EMSOW domain. They can get limited, read-only access to the Billing module to view the billing information only for their services.
To provide access to the Billing module, create a new user account for a doctor or provider and link it to the corresponding reading or referring doctor (or facility) or rendering provider. If you need help setting up user permissions, please contact our support.
Bugs & Stability
We have improved the stability and performance of EMSOW and fixed a few bugs.
Mobile diagnostic imaging is in high demand by many practices and doctors who are looking to expand their services to new locations and avoid the cost of maintaining an in-house diagnostic lab. Portable diagnostic equipment makes it possible for X-ray technicians and sonographers to travel between facilities. At the same time, it delivers image quality comparable to that of stationary equipment. However, today’s technology has a lot more to offer to mobile diagnostic operators than just portable ultrasound machines and X-ray appliances. In this article, we’ll take a look at one useful tool that can help your mobile imaging business work more efficiently – web-based PACS.
Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have become a vital part of the IT infrastructure of many healthcare organizations. PACS software allows to capture, store, view and share all types of medical images within local networks. This provides a great number of advantages, including long-term storage, easy search, and image transfer via the network (which is much faster and cheaper than burning CDs).
However, if you are considering getting your own PACS server as a mobile imaging operator, you may face at least the following difficulties:
Maintenance is expensive. Even if you’re a small business, medical images are a heavy kind of data: one echocardiogram, for instance, may take up to 1 GB of storage space depending on the compression level. Moreover, you are legally obliged to keep the images for a long time in most cases. Add to this the need for a trained IT specialist to manage, service, and backup the image storage server.
External sharing issues. A local PACS server may work for you if your images are supposed to remain in your local network without any external access. However, if you use remote reading radiologists like most mobile operators, you will not be able to easily send the images to their remote computers, because a) the images are large, and b) it may violate the privacy of your patients. To include a remote site in your network you might choose to use the Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, but then the cost of the above mentioned IT guy may reach a six number figure.
Fortunately, in the age of internet services, both of the problems are easily solved with web-based PACS solutions that allow you to:
– Upload images from any location via the internet, with HIPAA-compliant encryption
– View the images in a web browser from any internet-enabled device. To invite a radiologist to read an imaging study, all you need to do is send them a link
– Forget about the long-term storage problem, since now the images are in the cloud (though you should make sure to carefully read the terms and conditions of your contract; for example, you may want to check their policy on data migration in case you decide to move your data to another provider in the future)
If you and your reading doctor are using different PACS systems, advanced web-based solutions should allow you to connect your system to theirs. Thanks to the interoperability of the DICOM protocol, the core of any modern PACS, your web-based solution can be joined with any other system. Security can be provided by the same VPN technology we mentioned, except for it will not be at your own expense anymore – the web service provider should take care of all the technicalities as part of the package.
Therefore, the web-based PACS services allow you to create a secure distributed clinical environment that is available 24/7 from any location. They can reliably connect technicians and reading doctors as well as your office personnel and thus help you manage your workflow completely. There is a couple more things you might look into to get the most out of your web-based PACS experience:
– Manage the schedule of your technicians and transfer it straight to their equipment with Modality Worklist.
– Transfer patient information from the EHRs of your customers to your worklist
– Integrate the billing part of your business with your PACS.