Governance Considerations for Point-of-Care Ultrasound: a HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community Whitepaper in Collaboration with AIUM

Abstract

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has emerged as a standard of care across a variety of healthcare settings due to its ability to provide critical clinical information and as well as procedural guidance to clinicians directly at the bedside. Implementation of enterprise imaging (EI) strategies is needed such that POCUS images can be appropriately captured, indexed, managed, stored, distributed, viewed, and analyzed. Because of its unique workflow and educational requirements, reliance on traditional order-based workflow solutions may be insufficient. To improve patient care outcomes and operational efficiency, a robust governance committee for POCUS within healthcare systems that addresses pertinent institutional policies to ensure effective and sustainable implementation of enterprise imaging, appropriate to the specific clinical encounter-based workflow needs of POCUS, is critical. This white paper explores several key governance considerations in the formulation and structure of a POCUS enterprise imaging strategy, focusing on program governance, clinical governance, technology governance, information governance, and financial governance.