An organization-wide Enterprise Imaging journey
With a consolidated Enterprise Imaging platform across the health network, Sparrow Health System helps radiologists optimize their workflows – increasing productivity, diagnostic confidence, and the delivery of care.
Six hospitals, three urgent care units, 115 care sites, four radiology reading groups, and over 485,000 radiology exams each year: image management at Sparrow Health System is anything but straightforward. But Enterprise Imaging is helping the network achieve its vision of a holistic, consolidated approach that supports both its goals as an organization and the varied needs of everyone involved.
Sparrow Health System Team
Dr. Eghosa Olomu
Chair of Radiology and Diagnostic Radiologist
Outreach and Ancillary Applications Manager
Senior IT Application Analyst
Amy Chown
Administrative Director of Radiology
X-ray Supervisor
Affiliates and Ancillary Team Analyst
From left to right: Tamara Skok, Mary Wyatt, Dr. Eghosa Olomu, Jasmine Holloway
Flexible to the needs of multiple radiology groups
Sparrow Health System went live with AGFA HealthCare Enterprise Imaging in 2020. “It was a network-wide upgrade from AGFA HealthCare’s IMPAX® PACS. All of our hospitals, urgent care centers, family practices with imaging, etc. are now on the Enterprise Imaging platform,” states Jasmine Holloway, Senior IT Application Analyst at Sparrow Health System. With several radiology groups across the multi-site network, meeting everyone’s needs can be tricky. “Each radiology group has its own requirements and these can vary even at the specialty level. But Enterprise Imaging lets us customize the reading workflows to match each radiology group’s preferences: overall, by specialty, and even by radiologist,” explains Ms. Skok.
Dr. Eghosa Olomu, Chair of Radiology and Diagnostic Radiologist, describes how this works in practice: “In our radiology group, we divide workflows into specialty ‘shifts’, such as ‘Emergency Department’, ‘Breast Imaging’, ‘Fluoroscopy,’ ‘Musculoskeletal’, etc. Each has its own worklist in Enterprise Imaging. It’s highly customizable. For example, we specified that all radiologists in any shift should be able to access the Emergency Department tasklist. So if things get too busy down there, a radiologist in another shift can just check a box, and the Emergency Department studies become part of their worklist, without switching back and forth. This flexibility for customization has been very helpful for our radiologists, and for our patients.”
Dr. Olomu explains how Enterprise Imaging is helping radiologists improve productivity, diagnostic confidence and the delivery of care. “It’s important to maximize efficiency, because radiology is only getting busier. The less I have to jump from one screen to another, the more I can keep my eyes focused on the study I am working on. That improves my diagnostic confidence and quality of reporting.”
Enterprise Imaging lets us customize the reading workflows to match each radiology group’s preferences: overall, by specialty, and even by radiologist
Tools and functionalities that get radiologists “in the flow”
AGFA HealthCare is pioneering the Health Imaging Network™, technology that creates a real-time distributed Imaging Health Record™ across allocated and affiliated health providers. AGFA modernizes and streamlines Enterprise Imaging application management to provide a cross enterprise, multi-institutional system with the intelligence tied to resource availability and skills, not physical location.
Dr. Olomu highlights some of the tools and functionalities he particularly appreciates in AGFA’s Enterprise Imaging:
“The flexibility for customization has been very helpful for our radiologists, and for our patients.”
- Task-based workflow: “It takes less time and mental energy to determine what task to work on, because it’s right there in the worklist. And the worklist refreshes automatically, so its always up-to-date.”
- Customizable hanging protocols: “You can set them up as you like, and save them for use later. But you can also easily create protocols right when working on a study, with the easy drag-and-drop function. It’s very flexible.”
- Multiplanar reconstructions (MPR): “You can make maximum intensity projections (MIP) and minimum intensity projections (MinIP) very quickly. I find it faster and more responsive than our other 3D viewer, and consequently, I spend more time on the Enterprise Imaging MPR tool.”
- PET/CT evaluations: “You can make fusions and calculate standardized uptake values (SUV) directly in Enterprise Imaging. By eliminating the need to switch back and forth with other software programs in order to make a diagnosis or report, you save time.”
- Comparison of 3D priors: “It is easier to find a lesion in a prior study, enabling efficient and accurate comparisons. You can scroll through the priors to determine if there has been any change. It thus supports accuracy of diagnosis.”
- Multidisciplinary/quality conferences: “You can quickly and easily save cases on a list in Enterprise Imaging, and then pull them up in the conference with no delay in loading or finding the right case. And you can save snapshots, enabling you to go directly to the key images.”
Greater efficiency in the radiology department means more time for patients
The benefits of Enterprise Imaging are not just felt by the radiologists. “Enterprise Imaging also makes tasks easier and faster for our X-ray supervisors, improving our departmental efficiency. They can spend more time with patients: both enhancing patient contact and increasing the number of patients they can see,” explains Amy Chown, Administrative Director of Radiology.
X-ray Supervisor Amanda Chambers specifies: “Fixing, splitting and merging studies is much easier in Imaging. For example, splitting a series used to take 5-10 steps. Now, I click ‘split’, highlight the entire series I want to move, and click ‘split’ again – and its done! The time saved adds up, and instead of spending it on the workstation, I am with the patient.”
“The increased speed and efficiency also improve radiology turnaround times overall, as studies get to the radiologists more quickly.” explains Ms. Chown.
During implementation, the AGFA HealthCare team were very responsive, kept track of the issues, and provided consistent feedback. We continue to work closely with them: they are a great team to work with.
From left to right: Amanda Chambers, Amy Chown
Reducing costs and complexity, enhancing speed and connectivity
Enterprise Imaging has also brought high-level IT advantages, reducing costs, server footprint, and more. “We no longer need workflow management systems at our community hospitals. On the one hand, this reduces the maintenance requirements – which is particularly helpful in more remote environments. And on the other, we could reduce our server footprint, while still delivering the speed and connectivity our rural hospitals need,” describes Ms. Holloway.
We love the partnership we have with our Account Manager and Client Executive. They give us options, are clear on what we can and can’t do, and how to make it happen.
A strong and growing partnership
The Sparrow Health System teams agree that the support from AGFA HealthCare has been a critical element in the success of their Enterprise Imaging journey. “During implementation, there were some issues and frustrations. We had daily meetings with the AGFA HealthCare team, who were very responsive, kept track of the issues, and provided consistent feedback. This is very important whenever you are rolling out something new with a vendor. We continue to work closely with them: they are a great team to work with,” describes Ms. Chown.
Ms. Holloway agrees: “We love the partnership we have with our Account Manager and Client Executive. We can talk to them about what we need to do and how to do it. They give us options, they are clear on what we can and can’t do, and how to make it happen.”
“They feel like a part of Sparrow Health System, working with us on brainstorming, providing feedback and more. Their partnership and collaboration have been very important for us to keep moving forward,” concludes Ms. Skok.
The power of peer connections: the AGFA HealthCare User Group
The power of peer connections: the AGFA HealthCare User Group
Jasmine Holloway attended an engaging AGFA HealthCare User Group (AHUG) in the fall of 2022. She shared, “The User Group gives us the opportunity to meet and collaborate as a community and learn from each other. We can share ideas around best practices, and also have the opportunity to provide feedback to AGFA about what features and enhancements are important to us. Plus, it’s always nice to see the AGFA team in person, which opens up avenues to get help if we need it. AGFA HealthCare is our partner, not just another vendor.”
Two-level support
Two-level support
To support their ongoing needs, Sparrow Health System can call on a two-level support team from AGFA HealthCare. “Our Client Executive provides our ‘high-level’ broader scope vision for our Enterprise Imaging. Our Account Manager is our day-to-day support person who helps with specific issues and supports us to find our way through the system to the answers we need.” – Tamara Skok
The AGFA HealthCare solution: Enterprise Imaging
Without question, the most powerful tools in any healthcare system are its people. That’s why AGFA HealthCare Enterprise Imaging Platform is carefully designed to do more than compile medical images. Instead, it’s a way to empower each and every healthcare professional to be the best version of themselves. Through a highly focused, efficient and customizable experience, it enables everyone in the healthcare ecosystem to stay in the flow and be the best they can be at their respective craft. With Enterprise Imaging for Radiology, Sparrow Health System can optimize and customize radiologist workflows across the multi-site network, while increasing efficiency in the radiology department and simplifying IT.
AGFA HealthCare solutions deployed at Sparrow Health System:
- Enterprise Imaging for Radiology
- Enterprise Imaging for Breast Imaging
- Business Intelligence
- Teaching Files
Enterprise Imaging Auxiliary (AUX) System - Integrated TeraRecon Advanced Visualization
Sparrow Health System
Did you know?
Sparrow Health System
Did you know?
Each year, Sparrow Health System’s 9,000 caregivers and 1,295 physicians handle 23,000 surgeries and 90,000 Urgent Care and Walk-In Care visits in the network’s 115 care sites across Mid-Michigan.
E.W. Sparrow Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center, a Cardiac Center of Excellence, and a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center.
E.W. Sparrow Hospital has earned the prestigious recognition as a Magnet Hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center
(ANCC). Considered the “gold standard” for nursing care in hospitals, Magnet status is held by only about 6 percent of hospitals nationwide.
