Pre-Read Workflow

Pre-Read is a read type that allows a radiologist to author an interpretation of a study without that interpretation being distributed or counted as a final (or preliminary) read at the facility level. When a pre-reader completes their report, the study returns to the facility worklist as Ready to Read - the facility sees a normal, unread study. A supervising or credentialed radiologist then opens the study, finds the pre-reader's text already loaded in the report editor as a starting point, and completes the report under their own name.

The key distinction from a draft is finality and visibility. A draft isowned by a single radiologist who has not yet completed their work. A Pre-Readis a completed contribution by one person that is invisible to the facility andfeeds directly into the workflow of a second person who will own the finalreport. The pre-reader's name does not appear on any distributed report.

The core value of Pre-Read is that it lets non-credentialed or restricted readers contribute meaningful interpretive work without disrupting facility workflows, without creating compliance exposure, and without requiring the supervising radiologist to start from a blank page.

In order to enable pre-reads, a radiology group must first have it turned on for them and configured as per the read type documentation.  Once that is done, a group administrator is able to set up the necessary permissions and configuration to make use of it.  Note that after Pre-Reads are enabled, you will need to log in again in order to see the options

Setting up Pre-Read

Pre-Read is disabled by default. Enabling it requires three distinct steps - at the radiology group level, at each facility, and for each individual user. All three must be completed before any user can create a Pre-Read report.

This section will outline how the first physician will be able to create the Pre-Read report.  Once complete, it will NOT be sent to the facility, but a report will exist in the system with a read type of Pre-Read.  Facility users will NOT be able to see this report.

The facility we will use is North Haverbrook Imaging Center, and the physician who will do the Pre-Read is testrad1.

1. Contact OnePACS Support

The OnePACS support team must unlock the feature for your group.  

2. Pre-Read Facility Configuration

As shown in the pre-read read type documentation (see links above), the facility should be enabled for pre-reads as shown.

3. Pre-Read Radiologist Permissions

We will now edit testrad1's permissions and limit their ability to only perform pre-reads for North Haverbrook.

Now, when testrad1 goes to enter a report for North Haverbrook, it will only have the Pre-Read read type enabled and selected.

Using Pre-Read

Once configuration is complete, Pre-Read works as a seamless two-step handoffbetween the pre-reader and the supervising radiologist. The two sub-sectionsbelow describe each person's experience.

For the Pre-Reader

1. Open the study from your worklist.
2. The report editor will default to the Pre-Read read type if that is your assigned read type for this facility.
3. Author your interpretation as you normally would.
4. Click Complete Report.

The study is now marked as Ready to Read on the facility worklist. The facility sees a normal, unread study — there is no indication that a pre-read report exists or that anyone has already worked on the case. The study is ready for the supervising radiologist to pick up.

For the Supervising Radiologist

1. Find the study on your worklist. Studies with a completed pre-read display a Pre-read status icon so you can identify them at a glance.
2. Open the study. The report editor loads with the pre-reader's text pre-populated as your starting point.
3. Review and edit the report as needed.
4. Delete the pre-reader's name if it appears on the report.
5. Select your read type - Final or Preliminary - as appropriate.
6. Click Complete Report.

The report is distributed normally under the supervising radiologist's name.

Auto-Assignment

If your practice uses auto-assignment rules to route studies, those rules can be configured to recognize Pre-read studies and automatically assign them to the appropriate supervising radiologist. If you want to set this up, confirm withyour OnePACS administrator that your auto-assignment configuration covers already-read studies - Pre-read studies are eligible for this routing.