Customer Case Study
My Clinic,
Jeddah
Enterprise Imaging’s single platform, imaging ecosystem and effective functionalities support growth and patient experience goals for new, top-of-the-line outpatient clinic network.
A gateway to cross-site excellence
Samuel Alejaga
Senior Manager IT Department
Project & Clinic System Manager
Radiologist
The brand-new My Clinic, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is the pilot and flagship for a future network with an ambitious goal: to provide not only excellent patient care, but also a superior patient experience.
“Our first objective is to make sure our patients feel that we are truly passionate, caring and authentic when it comes to improving their health,” explains Ava Olegario, Project and Clinic System Manager.
“But we will truly differentiate ourselves with our approach and attitude to customer service,” adds Samuel Alejaga, Senior Manager for the IT Department.
“Offering a completely unified imaging platform, Enterprise Imaging will support My Clinic to ensure that patients receive the best care, at any of the group’s sites around the country.”
Setting the stage for access and collaboration
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has an advanced healthcare sector, much of it focused around inpatient hospitals. Nazer Group is working to extend the healthcare options with a network of one-stop-shop outpatient clinics – called “My Clinic” – offering a range of services including women’s health, children’s health, chronic disease management, dentistry, radiology, cardiology and more.
My Clinic’s growth goals are an important part of its overall philosophy of combining patient-centric care and service. In addition to partnering with top healthcare facilities and hospitals around the world, Nazer Group aims to expand rapidly to provide the same, high level of care from each My Clinic site.
“All clinics will have a centralized system,” explains Ava Olegario, adding that “This is where AGFA HealthCare shines with its Enterprise Imaging solution.”
More than a PACS, a VNA or a reporting solution, Enterprise Imaging centralizes all of the patient’s imaging information, from different sources, and makes it available to caregivers, wherever they are.
“The streamlined, uncluttered interface, intuitive features and customizable desktop make the solution easy to use. And the measurement tools, in particular those for orthopedics, ultrasound and MRI, and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) are all very helpful to me.”
“The current vision is to expand the clinics business to Riyadh and Damman, in addition to Jeddah.”
Smooth integration and customized functions
Using best of breed technology tools and solutions has been a component of the My Clinic concept from the start. While the Jeddah clinic opened its doors in May 2017, the road to achieving its goals began several years earlier.
“We built the first My Clinic site from ‘scratch’ – sourcing the location, finishing the building, acquiring and installing medical equipment as well as information systems, developing the workflows and processes, etc.,” explains Samuel Alejaga. “It took about two years in all, and we were very fortunate to have the experience of our colleagues from Nazer Group.”
When it became time to select an imaging management system, AGFA HealthCare stood out for its solution, its expertise, and its service.
Ava Olegario describes: “We were looking for a solution that would be easy to use but technically advanced, support our value-based care and growth goals, fit our processes, enable us to continuously improve our level of service.”
Samuel Alejaga adds, “Our hospital information system (HIS) was also built from scratch and we needed to find an imaging system that could integrate with it. AGFA HealthCare’s technology has proven itself around the world, so we knew integration would not be a problem with Enterprise Imaging.”
Based on these criteria, and after the competitive selection process, My Clinic chose to implement the Enterprise Imaging for Radiology, Enterprise Imaging for Cardiology and Enterprise Imaging Business Intelligence (BI) modules. Enterprise Imaging for Radiology is now up and running.
Streamlined reporting and clinical tools
With its intuitive use, dedicated clinical tools and powerful workflow engine, Enterprise Imaging is already supporting the productivity and efficiency of My Clinic’s radiology services since the clinic opened.
“The speed and flexibility of reporting enhance the clinical care and the patient experience”, Ms. Olegario describes. “Imagine: a patient does an MRI, and before they are even out of the examination room, the report is ready. The physician has direct access to the report. That’s real value-based care.”
For in-house radiologist Dr. Anas AbdulAzeem, the solution provides the tools and functionalities he needs for diagnosis, reporting, collaboration and more. “The streamlined, uncluttered interface, intuitive features and customizable desktop make the solution easy to use,” he starts. “And the measurement tools, in particular those for orthopedics, ultrasound and MRI, and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) are all very helpful to me.”
The sectional reporting, which offers a guideline for naturally and logically grouping various parts of a radiology report, is very comfortable to use, while still offering the flexibility to adapt the report to the radiologist’s own style. Standardizing radiology reports in the clinic enables clinicians to more easily read reports and find the information they need.
Enterprise Imaging also enhances collaboration between colleagues and with the outside radiology reading service the clinic uses. Dr. AbdulAzeem describes: “If I want to co-author a report with a colleague, for example, the system makes it easy to get a signature from both of us, and then allows me to validate the report.
On the other hand, once I have opened a file and begun working on it, no-one else can then open it. And once a report has been signed off, no-one can make further changes to it. These functionalities reduce error, and further enhance the quality of patient care.”
The reading radiologists outside the clinic have the same, real-time access to studies, enabling a smooth workflow inside and outside the clinic. “I simply inform them that there is a study available, they can access it directly, make the report right in the solution, and sign it off” he explains. “At the same time the solution is more secure and ensures greater confidentiality for the patient.”
Another functionality he appreciates is the ability to merge or to split images and studies. “Say that a patient comes in for a Doppler ultrasound of the arterial and the venous systems. On the modality, these are one, combined order. But we will want to look at the images for the arterial system separately from the venous system. The technician can easily split them directly at the modality, into two distinct studies. So, when we are reading later, we don’t have to switch back and forth between venous and arterial images. That’s a function that both the technician and the reading radiologist appreciate.”
“We were looking for a solution that would be easy to use but technically advanced, that would support our value-based care and growth goals, that would fit our processes, and that would enable us to continuously improve our level of service. Enterprise Imaging plays, and will play, a huge role in improving the experiences and outcomes of our patients.”
Continuous improvement, for value-based care
Ultimately, as Ava Olegario concludes: “Patients come to us because they have a health problem, so it’s not an easy starting situation. But we want to provide a best-in-class experience – a ‘wow’ experience for the patient.
Our goal is to build the best outpatient clinic in the Arab world, and we will keep improving our services to ensure the best patient care and experience. Enterprise Imaging plays, and will play, a huge role in improving the experiences and outcomes of our patients.”
AGFA HealthCare’s solution: Enterprise Imaging for Radiology
Native and embedded clinical applications provide for more productivity on a single workstation.
Templated reporting, voice commands and standard reports make reporting fast, easy and personalized.
Hanging protocols save time for the radiologist by creating a consistent study presentation while remaining flexible.
Collaboration tools enable results to be reviewed with referrers, reports to be assigned to a colleague, and second opinions to be requested from a peer.
AGFA HealthCare’s contribution
“Enterprise Imaging supports My Clinic’s patient care and growth goals, by delivering a completely unified imaging platform that maximizes productivity and efficiency, and will enable seamless collaboration and information access across all of the future clinics.”
The AGFA HealthCare and partner Gulf Medical project team successfully integrated the Enterprise Imaging platform into the third-party HIS, which was built ‘from scratch’, through careful and knowledgeable project management and team work. They continue to provide very responsive support post-implementation
“AGFA HealthCare’s technology has proven itself around the world, so we knew integration would not be a problem with Enterprise Imaging.”