Clare wrote:
> I would like to get opinions from others in the DICOM community about
> the IHE requirement that a zero length Accession Number (0008,0050)
be
> created when a Performed Procedure Step (PPS) is unscheduled. See
IHE
> Technical Framework, vol. II: Transactions, Rev 5.5, Appendix A,
Table
> A-1, Note (IHE-4).
>
> My concern is that not allowing the user to enter an Accession Number
> for unscheduled PPS may not fit the workflow of some hospitals or
> clinics. For example, assume that a hospital is having networking
> problems with their HIS or they are changing the HIS software and are
> experiencing problems with Modality Worklist and MPPS. However, they
> are able to generate paper orders with Accession Numbers and want the
> Accession Numbers entered manually for every PPS.
>
> Is the IHE requirement OK or will it cause problems in some
hospitals?
>
> Regards,
> Clare Anderson
> Siemens Medical Solutions, Ultrasound Division


OK, I admit my example was flawed. However, I still think there are
times when a hospital would experience problems and want all procedure
steps to be treated as unscheduled and the Accession Number to be
entered manually. My understanding of the IHE rule is that they never
want an Accession Number to be sent in the MPPS N-Create-Req for the
unscheduled case.

Clare

OK my example is flawed, but is it really desirable to always send a
zero length Accession Number for unscheduled PPS? I am relictant to
limit the user's options unless it is clearly the correct
implementation. It isn't clear to me that sending a zero length
Accession Number for unscheduled PPS is always desirable.

Is Accession Number the trigger for Patient Information Reconcillation?

Does anyone have experience either way with this?

Regards,
Clare

Hi Clare,

I am new to DICOM but from what I know, hospitals usually use the
Accession number for billing. Hence even if the PPS is unscheduled, the
only way they will get money out of that will be by having an accession
number to put into their billing workflow. So I think it might be
useful to let them enter it manually, though I can see your hesitation,
because the more you let the user do the more ways they come up with to
break the system and then blame us :-)

Hope that helps atleast to some extent.
Akshay