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Patient Database
A problem that exists in all emergency departments is the patient who repeatedly presents with chief complaints suggesting a potentially lethal diagnosis such as coronary artery disease. Currently, these patients receive a repeated expensive workup. This expense is a burden on the provider, the insurance company and society. Furthermore, this results in unnecessary and potentially dangerous levels of radiation exposure to the patient. While each Coronary CTA exam has radiation exposure well within the range of traditional nuclear medicine SPECT stress tests, the cumulative effect of multiple repeat exams is a real threat to the patient in the form of radiation-induced malignancies. ECI has an internal, HIPAA compliant database that technologists will check prior to each exam and alert the ordering physician if this is a repeat exam over a short period of time. While this does not prevent patients from obtaining repeat exams outside of our network, it does give your staff the opportunity to decrease the risk of radiation exposure within your institution. |
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