How UC Health Saved $300K Annually While Improving Patient Engagement

The Challenge: Like many health systems, UC Health was using CDs to share imaging records with patients & providers due network limitations of their legacy image exchange solution. They were looking to achieve a few important goals: - Generate savings and redirect staff to critical tasks by eliminating CDs - Improve the patient experience -Improve follow-up rates UC Health strives to build strong relationships with both patients and care providers at partner organizations. Delays and complex processes due to reliance on CDs led to frustrating experiences for both patients and care providers. Dr. Ram Chadalavada, Vice Chair of Radiology – Informatics at UC Health emphasized how this inefficiency impacted both sides: “Patients want us, as physicians, to be able to make decisions for them, with them, and alongside their families. Having imaging at the core of our discussions is critical. We’re very patient-driven and that’s why we chose to implement PocketHealth. Relying on manual processes and CDs wasn’t supporting the patient experience we were aiming to deliver.” The Solution: To overcome these challenges, UC Health chose to implement PocketHealth, a modern image exchange solution that directly integrated with their Epic MyChart patient portal. This implementation was aimed at enabling UC Health to eliminate the need for CDs and generating savings by simplifying their image exchange workflows. Dr. Chadalavada highlighted how crucial it was to link imaging with the patient portal to boost patient engagement and satisfaction. He stressed the importance of complementary technologies that enhanced the overall portal experience. “We saw this as an opportunity to connect the MyChart experience with the patient by image-enabling the portal.” This integration was essential to complement the existing image exchange system at UC Health and create a more unified healthcare experience.