When Is a Reporting Transition the Right Next Step?

The decision to replace a reporting platform rarely begins with a single deadline. It builds as workforce shortages, organizational growth and persistent workflow challenges expose a widening gap between what an organization needs and what its current platform can support.

For Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg (RAF), workforce shortages raised questions about meeting growing demand with its existing radiologists. As RAF’s President Roni Talukdar, MD, asked, “Does the legacy system fundamentally help us in the oncoming, impending shortage that we are all dealing with?” RAF concluded that maintaining the status quo wouldn’t address the challenge and that the potential efficiency gains justified the disruption of change.

At Emory University School of Medicine, growth was testing the limits of existing infrastructure. The organization had acquired two hospital systems in Southern Georgia, adding hundreds of thousands of exams annually while imaging volumes were already growing by at least 10% each year. An approaching end-of-support deadline accelerated the evaluation while Emory’s continued growth made scalability a key consideration. As Emory’s Division Director of Imaging Informatics Elias Kikano, MD, asked, “What types of technology systems can match that accelerated growth that we’re having and keep up with that?”

At Yale New Haven Health, the decision wasn’t driven by an external deadline. Years of frustration with its legacy environment prompted the IT team to explore alternatives early. However, standardizing technology across its academic and private practices required system-wide alignment. As Yale’s Vice Chair of Medical Informatics Melissa A. Davis, MD, MBA, explained, “It wasn’t some sort of a triggered decision for us.” After years of evaluating the market and building support among radiologists, practice leaders, administrators and finance, Yale turned that long-standing need into a coordinated decision.

End-of-life announcements can create urgency, but urgency alone doesn’t make the business case. The more important question is whether the current platform can support the organization’s future workforce, growth and clinical needs. When the answer is no, a reporting transition becomes a strategic next step.

Watch the full webinar to hear how leaders from RAF, Emory and Yale navigated the reporting transition.