Survey says referring physicians prefer multi-media reports

Photo courtesy: Biomorphdesk.com

PARCA eNews – Feb. 12, 2015 – PACS administrators need to get ready for MERR, or multi-media enhanced radiology reports, if a new survey of referring physicians is any indication of where radiology reports are heading.

In a 22 question survey of 402 referring physicians in the Jan. 29, Journal of the American College of Radiology, 86 percent of the respondents reported “improved understanding of radiology findings by correlating images to text reports” and 79 percent  reported “easier access to images while monitoring progression of a disease/condition” would be advantages of MERR.

That said, 28 percent expressed concerns about MERR implementation. Concerns about implementation ranged from 53 percent who thought it would be too time intensive and 42 percent thought clinic workflow would not allow for viewing such reports.

Nevertheless, 80 percent of the physicians said they would likely refer patients to radiologists who offered MERR and 79 percent would recommend such facilities to peers.

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