Equine Imaging Workflow: From Radiograph Order to Report in One Chart

Equine imaging workflow guide: order radiographs from the chart, capture at the barn, and file images and reports to the horse's record automatically.

An equine imaging workflow is the full path a radiograph or ultrasound study travels in a horse practice: the order placed during the exam, the capture at the barn or in the clinic, the transfer to PACS, the interpretation, and the final placement of images and findings in the horse's medical record. In most practices that path runs through three or four disconnected systems. In an equine-native platform it runs through one.

Quick Answer

A well designed equine imaging workflow lets the vet order a study from the horse's chart, capture images with any DICOM modality, and have the images, the report, and the billing line item land in the same record without re-entering data. StableTrack, built by Asteris, the company behind equine PACS and imaging tools used worldwide, connects the imaging workflow to scheduling, records, and invoicing so radiographs stop living in a separate silo.

Key takeaways

An equine imaging workflow covers order, capture, transfer, interpretation, and filing to the horse's record.
Most documentation gaps happen at handoffs between the practice management system, the modality, and PACS.
Equine radiology workflow steps like PPE radiograph sets and lameness blocks need imaging tied to the exam, not stored beside it.
Every captured study should generate its billing line item automatically, so imaging revenue stops leaking.
StableTrack is built by Asteris, an equine imaging company, so PACS connectivity is native rather than bolted on.

What an Equine Imaging Workflow Actually Involves

Equine medicine is unusually imaging-heavy. Lameness workups, pre-purchase exams, dental cases, and colic referrals all generate studies, and many of them happen in the field. A typical ambulatory radiology workflow looks like this:

  1. The vet decides during the exam that views are needed, often standing in a barn aisle.
  2. Images are captured on a portable DR plate.
  3. Studies transfer to PACS, sometimes hours later when connectivity returns.
  4. Findings get dictated or typed into the record, separately from the images.
  5. The invoice gets built from memory at the end of the day.

Each handoff is a place where a view goes missing, a finding never reaches the chart, or a study never gets billed. The fix is not more discipline. It is a workflow where the systems are connected from the start.

Ordering Studies From the Chart

The imaging workflow should begin inside the horse's record. When the vet orders left front radiographs during a lameness exam, that order should carry the horse's identity, the case context, and the requested views to the modality worklist. Manual patient re-entry at the plate is where mismatched studies come from, and mismatched studies are how a set of PPE radiographs ends up attached to the wrong horse.

Because StableTrack keeps equine medical records software and imaging in the same platform, an order created barnside is already linked to the exam it belongs to.

Capture and Transfer, Including Offline

Field imaging cannot depend on cell signal. Studies captured at a barn with no coverage need to queue locally and transfer when the truck reaches connectivity again. The same applies to the exam notes that give those images meaning.

This is where an equine radiology workflow differs most from a small animal one. A clinic modality sits on clinic wifi. A portable plate rides in a truck across three counties. Software built for equine practice treats offline capture and delayed sync as the normal case, not the exception.

Filing Images and Findings to the Horse's Record

Images that live only in PACS are half a record. The interpretation, the comparison to prior studies, and the clinical decision belong in the horse's longitudinal history alongside the images themselves. For horses with years of lameness history or repeated PPE radiograph sets, the ability to view the study and the exam it belongs to in one place is what makes the record useful to the next vet who opens it.

For a deeper look at the PACS side of this connection, see how equine PACS integration fits the medical record and the dedicated equine PACS integration overview. StableTrack also supports direct modality partnerships, such as the Keystone Omni integration for equine imaging.

Billing Every Study You Capture

Imaging is one of the most commonly under-billed services in ambulatory practice. Views get added mid-exam, the case moves fast, and the invoice gets reconstructed later. When the imaging workflow and the billing system share one record, every captured study can generate its line item at the moment of capture. The end-of-day invoice reflects what actually happened at the barn.

What to Look For in Equine Imaging Workflow Software

Evaluation checklist

DICOM modality worklist support, so patient data flows to the plate without re-entry.
Offline capture and automatic sync for field studies.
Images and interpretations filed to the same horse record, with prior studies one tap away.
Automatic billing line items generated from captured studies.
Vendor experience in equine imaging specifically, not small animal systems adapted for horses.

FAQ

What is an equine imaging workflow? An equine imaging workflow is the complete path an imaging study takes in a horse practice, from the order placed during an exam, through capture on a radiography or ultrasound modality, transfer to PACS, interpretation, and filing of images and findings into the horse's medical record, with a billing entry generated along the way.

How is an equine radiology workflow different from a small animal one? Equine radiology happens largely in the field on portable equipment, often without reliable connectivity, and the studies attach to horses with long multi-year histories and multiple stakeholders. Small animal workflows assume a clinic network, short visits, and a single owner, so software built on those assumptions breaks down in ambulatory equine work.

Why should imaging and practice management live in one system? Every handoff between separate systems is a chance for a mismatched patient, a missing finding, or an unbilled study. When ordering, records, and billing share one platform, the study is linked to the right horse from the start and the invoice builds itself as the work happens.

Does StableTrack integrate with PACS and imaging modalities? Yes. StableTrack is built by Asteris, a company with decades of experience in equine imaging and PACS, and it connects with DICOM modalities and PACS systems so images, reports, and the horse's record stay in sync.

See how an equine imaging workflow runs when records, PACS, and billing share one platform. Book a StableTrack demo.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is an equine imaging workflow?

An equine imaging workflow is the complete path an imaging study takes in a horse practice, from the order placed during an exam, through capture on a radiography or ultrasound modality, transfer to PACS, interpretation, and filing of images and findings into the horse's medical record, with a billing entry generated along the way.

How is an equine radiology workflow different from a small animal one?

Equine radiology happens largely in the field on portable equipment, often without reliable connectivity, and the studies attach to horses with long multi-year histories and multiple stakeholders. Small animal workflows assume a clinic network, short visits, and a single owner, so software built on those assumptions breaks down in ambulatory equine work.

Why should imaging and practice management live in one system?

Every handoff between separate systems is a chance for a mismatched patient, a missing finding, or an unbilled study. When ordering, records, and billing share one platform, the study is linked to the right horse from the start and the invoice builds itself as the work happens.

Does StableTrack integrate with PACS and imaging modalities?

Yes. StableTrack is built by Asteris, a company with decades of experience in equine imaging and PACS, and it connects with DICOM modalities and PACS systems so images, reports, and the horse's record stay in sync.