Integration of radiographic images with an electronic medical record.

Radiographic images are important and expensive diagnostic tests. However, the provider caring for the patient often does not review the images directly due to time constraints. Institutions can use picture archiving and communications systems to make images more available to the provider, but this may not be the best solution. We integrated radiographic image review into the Regenstrief Medical Record System in order to address this problem. To achieve adequate performance, we store JPEG compressed images directly in the RMRS. Currently, physicians review about 5% of all radiographic studies using the RMRS image review function.