Information systems and integration

Many hospitals and medical centers have computerized information systems either within radiology (RIS) or throughout the hospital (HIS). These different systems, which include, order entry, scheduling, transcription, ADT, and other functions are often operational in institutions that are considering installing an image management and communications system (IMACS). Since these systems have information that is crucial to an effective operational IMAC system it is necessary to communicate information between an information system and an IMACS. The mechanisms for sharing information between hospital and radiology information systems and IMAC systems is quite varied. Data entry can be duplicated into the different systems, data can pass from one system to the other, data can pass between the systems, or it can reside in a common database. This paper discusses information and image management systems, different mechanisms for communicating information between these systems, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the communication mechanisms.