McKesson imaging and workflow solutions introduces QICS for cardiology

McKesson Imaging & Workflow Solutions has announced the general availability of McKesson Qualitative Intelligence and Communication System (QICS), a new module within its cardiology solution suite.

McKesson QICS for Cardiology is the first of its kind in the cardiovascular industry to offer automated, integrated workflows and communications management within the cardiovascular information system (CVIS).

McKesson has developed the QICS workflow solution for cardiology-specific needs, to help hospital cardiology departments to automate and manage their workflows to promote better efficiency, effectiveness and provide audit trails around processes that include critical results management and peer review.

The QICS solution redefines the concept of a ‘complete’ CVIS by integrating with the McKesson Cardiology CVIS to enable the configuration, execution and monitoring of flexible automated workflows in cardiology departments. The ability to implement automated quality of care workflows within the CVIS helps eliminate time-consuming manual handoffs, helps to increase the efficiency of staff resource and provides closed loop reporting.

QICS for cardiology also enables a reliable communication system to improve patient management by facilitating the care continuum. To date, critical results have been subject to a relatively open-ended monitoring process. Now, critical results messages are integrated within the CVIS to help expedite emergency care and provide an audit trail of the escalation process, with in-built intelligence, on the occasion where a recipient of a critical result message does not respond within a set period of time, the next person in line is notified, until a response is received and the result acknowledged.

Additionally, QICS for Cardiology provides an audit trail in areas of increased regulatory focus, such as the peer review. With QICS, studies are systematically selected and allocated for peer review, along with all necessary information presented in the system. This automated workflow saves both the system administrator and clinician time, and provides centralised visibility of the review process, helping with quality assurance.

John Neeson, head of sales for McKesson Cardiology UK, said: “The introduction of QICS is part of McKesson’s continued investment in and development of our Cardiology solution. We recognised that there were significant learnings that could be taken from our QICS solution for radiology workflows and can provide huge benefits to cardiology departments across the NHS. We are very excited about the improvements that automated, integrated workflows can provide to trusts, clinicians and patients alike.”