Patient Access to an Online Portal for Outpatient Radiological Images and Reports: Two Years ’ Experience

AbstractTo assess the incidence of outpatient examinations delivered through a web portal in the Latium Region in 2  years and compare socio-demographic characteristics of these users compared to the total of examinations performed. All radiological exams (including MRI, X-ray and CT) performed from March 2017 to February 2019 were retrospectively analysed. For each exam, anonymized data of users who attended th e exam were extracted and their characteristics were compared according to digital access to the reports. Overall, 9068 exams were performed in 6720 patients (55.8% males, median age 58 years, interquartile range (IQR) 46–70) of which 90.2% residents in Rome province, mainly attending a single ra diological examination (77.3%). Among all exams, 446 (4.9%) were accessed, of which 190 (4.4%) in the first and 5.4% in the second year (p <  0.041). MRI was the type of exams mostly accessed (175, 7.0%). Being resident in the provinces of the Latium Region other than Rome was associated with a higher access rate (OR = 1.84,p = 0.001). Considering the overall costs sustained to implement a web portal which allows users a personal access to their own reports, if all users would have accessed/downloaded their exams, an overall users’ and hospital savings up to €255,808.28 could have been determined. The use of a w eb portal could represent a consistent economical advantage for the user, the hospital and the environment. Even if increasing over time, the ...
Source: Journal of Digital Imaging - Category: Radiology Source Type: research