Support for your RIS: Are you speaking the same language?
The language of radiology is unique to other departments or practices in healthcare. Those who run a radiology department for a hospital or who operate an imaging center will tell you that. Understanding the language of the RIS workflow is as important as understanding spoken language. Can you have an understanding of RIS workflow if you’ve never worked in a radiology environment? Can you truly speak effectively to someone in their native language if that is not your native language?
Most likely when you purchased your RIS, the salesperson told you they have excellent 24x7 support and not to worry if you have any problems. The system has just been installed and the install team has just left your facility and headed to their next install. A question comes up that you need answered so you call their toll-free support line only to find out that their support comes from Asia, India or some other non-English speaking country. The person you are trying to talk to can barely speak English (much less understand it). This is a major complaint among RIS users because many RIS vendors have outsourced their support outside the country in order to reduce their costs.
On the other hand, maybe the RIS support is coming directly from the United States but the support staff is comprised of folks who know their product, but don’t know the internal workings of a radiology department. Thus, it’s kind of like a male mammo tech performing a mammogram on a woman. They may have the knowledge but do they really understand the procedure the way a woman mammo tech would? The ideal support person for a RIS product is an ex-tech or an ex-radiology manager who has used that particular RIS product. Not only do they understand the product, they more importantly understand the day-to-day pressures and needs of the radiology staff.
Another important factor regarding support calls is the average time it takes to get a return call and the average time it takes a vendor to resolve an issue. Both of these are great questions to ask the referrals that you contact for a given RIS vendor. If a vendor is understaffed in support, you might experience several days before receiving a return call.
Bottom line: Make sure you know who you will be dealing with in regards to technical support for your RIS. Are they radiology knowledgeable? Can they speak understandable English? Is there ample support staff? What do existing customers think about their support?