Computerized radiographic reporting in a community hospital: a consumer's report.

This report analyzes a 30 month experience with a commerically available mark sense form-based automated radiographic reporting system (RAPORT) in the diagnostic radiology department of a 400 bed general hospital. By using the system, five radiologists were able to completely formulate readable diagnostic radiology reports in 65% of all cases, thereby bypassing a transcriptionist and decreasing report turnaround time dramatically without sacrificing reporting time. Moreover, billing and statistical capabilities provided by the system were found to capture enough lost charges to pay for its entire cost. Trade-offs for these efficiencies included learning of a new code by the radiologist, certain changes in his reading habits, and acceptance of a limited, repetitive, and somewhat stilted jargon both by the radiologist and the referring physician.