Radiology groups have long struggled with the manual inefficiencies of order entry. Faxed orders. Disconnected workflows. Delays that impact patient care. For years, the process has been tedious and error-prone—but change is here.

Sameer Sheth, Senior Vice President of Client Services at Infinx, has helped some of the nation’s largest imaging centers evolve from paper-heavy workflows to intelligent, tech-powered systems. In an episode of Office Hours, he shared how order entry automation is making a meaningful difference—and what the future holds.

The Fax Problem: Still Alive and Well

Even in 2025, order entry in radiology is largely dominated by faxes. Referring providers often send orders via fax, which then land in a shared inbox alongside everything from medical records to prior auth approvals to spam.

“There weren’t truly any systems that could keep track of the orders coming in,” Sameer explained. “You had to classify faxes, manually split out documents that belonged to different patients, and enter everything into the RIS. That process was prone to delays—and that meant delays in patient care.”

In short, no one knew how many orders were coming in, where they were in the process, or whether any had fallen through the cracks.

Building an Efficient Workflow From the Ground Up

Sameer’s team began by mapping every part of the order entry process—from document capture to data entry to SLA compliance. From there, Infinx introduced a system that could:

  • Automatically classify incoming documents
  • Allocate work to the appropriate team members
  • Monitor backlog and processing times
  • Ensure orders were entered into the RIS within two hours

Even without full automation, this systematic approach made a major impact. “For one customer, we were receiving 25,000 faxes a day,” Sameer said. “With the platform in place, we could ensure that each one was processed quickly and routed for scheduling without delay.”

What’s Next: AI-Driven Document Capture and Order Entry

Infinx is now rolling out a next-generation platform, IDC (Infinx Document Capture), that incorporates AI agents to dramatically improve accuracy and speed. Unlike traditional OCR tools that rely on structured forms, IDC uses AI to:

  • Recognize and extract handwritten or unstructured data
  • Identify document types (orders, IDs, auths, etc.)
  • Auto-populate patient information into the RIS
  • Route edge cases to human specialists

This combination of human + machine means radiology groups can scale faster while maintaining accuracy. “The virtual agents can learn from human inputs and get smarter over time,” Sameer said. “So if a group acquires another practice and volume goes up 10 or 15%, they can spin up additional agents without the ramp-up time that hiring staff requires.”

Future Outlook: AI-Powered Speed and Collaboration

Looking ahead, Sameer sees radiology workflows becoming increasingly collaborative between human teams and AI agents. “It’s not about eliminating people—it’s about allowing them to focus on the exceptions,” he explained. “An agent might take a task from three minutes to 30 seconds. That time savings translates directly into faster patient care and better cash flow.”

The integration between AI-powered order entry tools and the RIS will be key. In Sameer’s words: “The more seamless that handoff, the better your scheduling process and downstream billing will be.”

If your radiology group is still relying on manual order entry, it’s time to rethink the process. The technology exists—not just to digitize, but to optimize.

Want to learn more about IDC and order entry automation for radiology? Get more on document capture AI and referral management here.