Compuware Helps Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. Improve Patient Care
Compuware Professional Services Improves Radiology Turnaround Time and Reduces Costs for Oakwood Physicians and Caregivers
DETROIT, April 10 -- Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ:CPWR) today announced that it has implemented a digital, filmless imaging system for Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. (OHI). Compuware professional services provided project management and production support throughout the implementation of the Picture Archival and Communication System (PACS), across Oakwood's network of hospitals and selected ambulatory sites in Southeast Michigan.
Oakwood physicians now have immediate access to patient diagnostic images from any network-connected PC, allowing collaboration of patient care anytime and anywhere. Radiology turnaround time has improved by 50 percent, enabling physicians to obtain patient results more quickly and to make more efficient treatment decisions.
OHI knew its radiology departments needed to convert from traditional x- ray film environments to digital, filmless imaging. With a regional network of four hospitals and 38 primary care and specialty sites in Southeast Michigan serving more than 1.2 million people, OHI understood that IT innovation would play a critical role in staying competitive in the healthcare market and in providing the best quality of care to its patients.
The Compuware professional services team embraced this technology challenge and streamlined processes across OHI's four hospitals' radiology departments and selected ambulatory sites that offer radiology services through the creation of a filmless digital imaging environment.
"The filmless PACS system gives our physicians and caregivers the ability to access patient information no matter where they are," said Paula Smith, chief information officer at OHI. "They no longer have to go over to the Radiology Department to request the film; they can pull it up on any workstation within the organization. They can even pull it up remotely. The PACS system has become a key tool for our primary physicians in the daily care and treatment plans of their patients."
At OHI's largest site, Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center in Dearborn, Mich., radiology turnaround time has been cut in half, with a nearly 90 percent reduction in film processing costs.
"Physicians are getting the results much more quickly in a more real-time environment," said Dr. David Yates, director of Radiology at Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center. "So, rather than seven, eight, 10 hours later, they're getting the results in sometimes minutes, or at least, less than an hour. Physicians, therefore, have the results sooner and can act on those results more quickly, so theoretically they can discharge patients sooner."
One of the greatest challenges for OHI was breaking the "we've always used film" paradigm and getting caregivers to trust that the images on their high- resolution monitors were superior to what they see on film. "We can read particularly large dataset images much more efficiently in a filmless environment and scroll through the images, rather than putting up dozens of hard-copy films on viewing boxes," said Dr. Yates. "It just makes it a lot more efficient for us."
OHI is not only reaping the benefits of its filmless PACS system, but it's now well positioned for the future in Southeast Michigan's competitive healthcare marketplace.
"This implementation wouldn't have been possible without the strong project management skills and production support of the Compuware professional services team," said Smith. "They meshed seamlessly with the OHI staff and took the time to really understand our business needs. Their knowledge and experience made our PACS implementation effortless."
Click here to read more about Oakwood Healthcare's successful PACS implementation: http://compuware.com/pressroom/customers/6212_eng_html.htm
Compuware Corporation
Compuware Corporation maximizes the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organization. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organizations, including more than 90 percent of the Fortune 100 companies. Learn more about Compuware at http://www.compuware.com/.
Source: Compuware Corporation
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http://compuware.com/pressroom/customers/6212_eng_html.htm
