How Southwest Medical Imaging Leverages Automation to Exchange 1.5 Million Exams to Improve the Bottom Line and Patient Care

Southwest Medical Imaging (SMIL) is a premier physician-owned radiology practice in the Southwest US, led by 60+ experienced radiologists. With 19 facilities, it serves six major hospitals, earning a national top-tier reputation over four decades.

"Medicom's technology has advanced in lockstep with our own growth. Over the past eight years, they have been aggressive about innovation, constantly refining their feature set to ensure we have the most sophisticated tools available. It is a partnership defined by constant development and a shared commitment to elevating patient care."

Carrie Ransil | SMIL CEO

Overcoming Barriers to Patient Access

Before partnering with Medicom, SMIL faced infrastructure challenges that created friction in the patient journey. Sharing studies with external parties was hindered by:

• Burning CDs and DVDs: Manual media creation delayed patient discharge and intake.
• VPN Disruptions: Frequent connectivity issues from vendor compatibility slowed down data exchange.
• Manual Workflows: Staff spent valuable time managing data connections rather than patient needs.
• Scheduling Delays: Difficulty accessing prior imaging impacted the speed of new patient intake.

Creating Seamless Clinical Workflows

SMIL upgraded their image sharing by implementing Medicom Connect to modernize their processes through a consolidated, user-friendly platform. Over the course of the partnership, SMIL has leveraged Connect Premium features to drive automation.

• VPN-Free Exchange: Enabled direct, secure exchange of studies with external parties, eliminating unstable VPNs.
• Smart Search (AI-Driven Automation): Leveraging intelligent searches across the network to locate and retrieve patient priors instantly.
• Advanced Patient Matching: High-fidelity matching ensures incoming records are attributed to the correct patient file automatically, reducing clinical risk.

Delivering Efficiency and Clinical Excellence

The partnership has evolved from solving a connectivity problem to optimizig the entire clinical ecosystem, both internally and for external partners.

Becoming the Easiest Partner to Work With

By removing friction for referring physicians, SMIL has positioned itself as the "easiest partner to work with." External providers can upload or access images instantly, reinforcing SMIL's reputation as the preferred radiology partner in the region.

Sustained Innovation

The decision to continue the long standing partnership into 2026 and beyond was driven by a shared commitment to advanced technology. In 2024, SMIL upgraded to the latest AI-powered generation of Smart Search. By switching from manual procedure code mapping to dynamic AI algorithms, the practice has further increased the accuracy of automated retrievals while eliminating the need to maintain static files.

"At SMIL, Medicom has been a catalyst for operational excellence. Its automated workflows streamline patient matching and search, saving significant time and resources. The result: improved financial performance and even higher standard of care for our patients."

AJ Braga | SMIL VP of IT

Measuring Our Shared Success

1.5M+

Total Exams Exchanged

By eliminating physical media and VPNs, SMIL has successfully exchanged over 1.5 million exams since inception. For each of these patient episodes, the clinical team had instant access to critical prior imaging, reducing the need for re-scans and accelerating time-to-diagnosis.

65,000+

Monthly Automated Transfers

Medicom’s Smart Search now handles over 65,000 transfers every month without human intervention. This automation saves the operations team hundred sof hours in manual data entry, giving them more time to focus on complex patient needs rather than file management.

1,900%

Growth Since Inception

From just 16,745 transfers in Year 1 to an annualized run rate of over330,000 today, SMIL has achieved 1,900% volume growth. Medicom’s federated model supported this massive scale-up instantly, allowing the practice to expand its network without ever hitting a data bottleneck.

Building a Legacy of Innovation Together

Medicom remains the sole vendor in the market offering a federatedautomation model that effectively lowers operating expenses for high-volumepractices like SMIL. As the partnership moves forward, the focus remains on theseamless access of medical imaging data to improve the overall patientexperience, a crucial factor in patient retention and organizational growth.

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