Int J CARS (2009) 4:509–516 DOI 10.1007/s11548-009-0362-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Radiology information system: a workflow-based approach Jinyan Zhang · Xudong Lu · Hongchao Nie · Zhengxing Huang · W. M.P. van der Aalst Received: 29 January 2009 / Accepted: 13 May 2009 / Published online: 9 June 2009 © CARS 2009 Abstract Purpose Introducing workflow management technology in healthcare seems to be prospective in dealing with the problem that the current healthcare Information Systems can- not provide sufficient support for the process management, although several challenges still exist. The purpose of this paper is to study the method of developing workflow-based information system in radiology department as a use case. Method First, a workflow model of typical radiology process was established. Second, based on the model, the system could be designed and implemented as a group of loosely coupled components. Each component corresponded to one task in the process and could be assembled by the work- flow management system. The legacy systems could be taken as special components, which also corresponded to the tasks and were integrated through transferring non-work- flow-aware interfaces to the standard ones. Finally, a work- flow dashboard was designed and implemented to provide an integral view of radiology processes. Result The workflow-based Radiology Information System was deployed in the radiology department of Zhejiang Chinese Medicine Hospital in China. The results showed that it could be adjusted flexibly in response to the needs of changing process, and enhance the process management in the department. It can also provide a more workflow-aware J. Zhang · X. Lu (B ) · H. Nie · Z. Huang The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China e-mail: lxdlxd@mail.hz.zj.cn W. M. P. van der Aalst Department of Information and Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands integration method, comparing with other methods such as IHE-based ones. Conclusion The workflow-based approach is a new method of developing radiology information system with more flexi- bility, more functionalities of process management and more workflow-aware integration. The work of this paper is an initial endeavor for introducing workflow management tech- nology in healthcare. Keywords Workflow management · Radiology information system · Workflow modeling · System integration Purpose The healthcare practitioners are now facing challenges of increasing cost and growing demand for higher efficiency and quality. The quickly evolving technologies of workflow management provide solutions to these challenges. With functionalities of workflow automation, monitoring, and con- figuration, it could be prospective to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare, so as to reduce the cost. Never- theless, current medical information systems cannot provide sufficient support to these functionalities. Typical medical information systems are data-oriented and composed of a group of data Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) trans- actions. The processes are driven by the codes encapsulated in the systems which could hardly be configured correspond- ing to changes in demand. Meanwhile, due to the heteroge- neous environment in healthcare, the processes are divided into several segments for different systems and it is difficult to monitor and connect them as a whole. Integrating the Health- care Enterprise (IHE) has addressed the problem of work- flow integration through integration profiles [1] that aim at connecting processes in heterogeneous medical information 123