Minnesota provider reports cost savings with EMR/images integration

HealthPartners of St. Paul, Minn., said it has achieved cost savings by integrating its digital medical images and radiology reports into patients' EMRs.

The images and the radiology reports can be accessed by doctors at Regions Hospital and at all 25 HealthPartners Clinics.

The provider said the other benefits from this technology included:
  • Savings of $130,000 per year on expenses to transcribe radiologists' reports; and
  • Eliminating the cost of $300,000 per year to store film.

"The benefits of being paperless include increased efficiency because images can be available quickly at multiple locations and they cannot be lost," said Kim LaReau, vice president and chief information officer at Regions Hospital, also located in St. Paul.

HealthPartners plans to expand the system next year to its facilities in central Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Verona, Wis.-based Epic Systems provided HealthPartners with its EMR software, and Merge Healthcare of Milwaukee helped integrate the provider's radiology records.

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