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Thanks to all the organizers, participants, and guests of APDA 2019 Billing Midyear Conference. Great event for sharing your valuable experience and plenty of opportunities to present our latest products for x-ray and ultrasound billing. See you next time!

If you want to follow up or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at connect@emsow.com.

News of the World

Hello World!

One of the most important industry news of the last two weeks is FDA’s new instruction regarding reports about the problems associated with the use of Rubidium-82 generators (for details, please refer to the official FDA release).

As for EMSOW, we have released a line of essential upgrades to improve the transparency and efficiency of your business.

EMSOW Release

[#18550] PACS Package Manager
We have created the PACS Package Manager module for packing DICOM files and burning CD/DVD discs, which increases EMSOW’s user-friendliness and improves your efficiency. Now you can manage all your PACS archives and ISO files in one module.
We have replaced the DICOM package queue panel with a convenient notification system. Now, you can save plenty of time, since you don’t have to monitor the queue and wait until your archive is ready. Instead, you will receive a pop-up notification with a download link, no matter which module you are currently viewing. To learn more about this feature, please refer to our updated manual.

[#18344] Audit log in the Processing Module
We have increased the transparency of services processing by adding an audit log feature to the Processing module. From now on you can track who and when sent the services for reading and billing. This information is available in the History section of the Processing module.

[#18587] Delivery log in the PACS Storage
We have improved the delivery log feature in the PACS Storage. By clicking the “Delivery log” button, you can see who and when sent images from your PACS Storage to an external PACS system.

[#18505] Edit notes in Billing Rules
If you are dealing with many users and multiple billing rules, there’s good news. After changing a billing rule, the user is now prompted to add a note and explain why the rule had to be changed. Go to the Setup menu and select Billing Rules in the Rules dropdown menu to take a look at the improvement (you need permission to access this section). This new feature increases usage transparency and helps you avoid confusion, no matter how many rules and users you’re dealing with.

[#18608 ] Improved header in the Billing module
The header pane in the Billing module contains a lot of useful information. Now you can hover the mouse over any displayed value to see its description. From now on, your employees will not get confused when they want to calculate totals at the end of the month. Moreover, you can now turn on and off the display of particular values.

[#18265] Improved interface for entering CARC & RARC codes
Now some good news for your payment posting team. We have increased the usability of the posting interface by replacing the CARC and RARC dropdown box in the “Post transaction” window with a dialog where you can enter these codes faster. This option is essential since sometimes you have to enter over ten explanation codes for one transaction. With this option, your posting team will get more efficient.

[#17882] Increased stability of the PACS storage
We have increased the stability of EMSOW’s PACS Storage module. Previously, the system might return an error when you used the “Received from” search filter. Now we have eliminated this bug.

EMSOW is proud to take part in APDA 2019 Midyear Billing Conference, organized by the American Portable Diagnostics Association.

Meet EMSOW team on May 8–9 at Booth 2 to learn about how our software can help you bill for mobile X-ray services (including transportation and setup), dispatch technicians, store and interpret DICOM images in one easy-to-use app.

If you are looking for a radiologist to read X-rays, EMSOW can help you find the right doctor in your state via MDW radiology marketplace we partner with.

You can contact us online or on the phone. Schedule a meeting, and we will get in touch with you at your convenience.

Hello, world!

A week ago, radiologists in China found a 13 cm spoon in a woman’s duodenum. She accidentally swallowed it when she tried to remove a fishbone out of her throat. Luckily, the spoon was timely extracted.

And if you need to improve your turnaround time, we’ve got something new for you.

[#18551] Automatically change service status and auto-assign a technologist

When a technologist attaches images by dragging and dropping study tiles in the Technologist Portal, the system automatically changes the service status from “Scheduled” to “Performed”. Now your scheduling managers can save their time since they don’t need to manually change the service status prior to image upload—the system recognizes the status change on its own!

In addition, if the service was not assigned to the technologist, the system assigns him or her to the service (given that their user account is linked to the particular technologist account), so that their name appears on the final report.

Go 100% paperless and mobile with smartphone apps and modern PACS-integrated software!

Document management is a daily routine for any healthcare enterprise. If you run a mobile diagnostic business, you surely have faced many paperwork-related issues. The most obvious of them are workflow complexity and low usability, but that’s not even half of the story. Let’s talk about some hidden pitfalls of paper record-keeping and see how modern technologies, such as PACS and smartphone applications, spare your time and effort and, at the end of the day, cut your expenses.

Workflow complexity. Typically, your staff has to create multiple documents for each patient: referral and consent forms, progress notes, eligibility approvals, reports etc. Such documents are often handwritten and manually handled, which, first of all, means time expenditures on copying, sorting, and handwriting deciphering. Besides, all these loads of paperwork have to be stored somewhere and kept in order.

Data security issues. If every document exists in a unique copy, the probability of loss increases significantly, mostly due to the human factor. On the other hand, creating multiple copies of the same document increases data security concerns.

Excessive expenditures. Another essential point is expenditures on consumables for outdated office equipment. It is probably not the highest part of your overheads, but why not cut it down?

How can a smartphone app help? We recommend looking for a solution that doesn’t just take pictures but adjusts to your workflow. Below are a few app features that we believe are the most important:

1. Capture different types of documents (consent forms, insurance cards, log sheets, patient sheets, tech sheets, referral forms—whatever is needed for your practice)
2. Integrate with your EMR. If the captured documents are automatically attached to patient records, you can save data entry time and increase data integrity
3. Integrate with your PACS. If the documents are included in DICOM image packages, your paperwork can be reliably delivered to your reading provider, together with diagnostic images

Among the main advantages of using these apps, you can expect the following:

• Automated document handling. All the paperwork is handled automatically, thus you can forget about sorting your documents manually and collecting loads of papers in your office. This feature considerably decreases the factor of human error and helps you keep things in order.
• Ease of access. With mobile apps, you can retrieve any document at any time with a single tap on the screen.
• Security. HIPAA-aware apps store patient information securely and transmit it via an encrypted connection, which minimizes the probability of loss or leak.
• Mobility. A truly mobile app can be used remotely from anywhere. Some mobile applications also allow doctors to sign their reports electronically so that you could avoid verification issues – you don’t need to decipher your physician’s signature anymore. If the app is integrated with your PACS, diagnostic images can be sent and viewed instantly without using film of burning CDs.
• Cutting down your expenses. Mobile solutions are quite affordable, so you can save your costs on office equipment.
• And finally…printing options. You can go completely paperless, but it doesn’t mean you can completely give up paper documents. No need to worry—mobile documents are still printer-friendly, and you can have them on paper too.

With paperless solutions and mobile applications, upgrading your medical business becomes much easier than you might expect. Isn’t it time to realize the new benefits and get focused on your business and patients instead of paperwork and office equipment?