Multi-author workflow is a set of features that allows users, such as residents and physicians’ assistants, to draft a report. The report can then be passed on to an attending radiologist for review and sign-off.

This contributes to better oversight of radiology reports, and smoother collaboration between different roles at your site.

In this article:

Setting user roles and permissions for multi-author workflow
Resident workflow
Radiologist workflow
Opening filtered views of the report list
Setting up attestation statements
Troubleshooting
Frequently asked questions

Setting user roles and permissions

For a multi-author workflow, you may want to restrict certain users from signing reports and addendums—with other users permitted to sign. So first, let’s review your user roles and permissions.

Select Admin > Roles from the main navigation menu on the left-hand side.
Roles you want to sign reports and addendums should have that permission enabled. To check a role’s permissions, select a role to bring up the Role dialog. Search for that role’s permissions under the Permissions tab.

💡 Rad AI comes pre-configured with "Resident" and "Radiologist" roles, ready for multi-author workflow. The "Resident" role has all the same permissions as the "Radiologist" role—minus the ability to sign a report or addendum. Learn more about roles and permissions

Role name Permissions

Resident ❌ Sign Report
❌ Sign Addendum

Radiologist ✔ Sign Report
✔ Sign Addendum
Determine whether you want to require certain roles to set a finalizing author when changing the report status to "in review" or "preliminary".

💡By default, both "Resident" and "Radiologist" roles can change the report status without setting a finalizing author.

Under Report permissions, check or uncheck the box next to Mark as Review/Prelim With No Finalizing Author:
- If checked, users assigned to this role will be able to change the report status to “in review” or “preliminary” without setting a finalizing author.
- If unchecked, users assigned to this role will be required to set a finalizing author on changing the report status to “in review” or “preliminary”.
(Optional) By default, users assigned any of Rad AI's preconfigured roles ("Resident", "Radiologist", "Admin") are listed as applicable report authors in the "Set Authors" dialog—and automatic author assignment applies in certain scenarios.

However, You can make it so that users assigned certain roles are not listed as applicable report authors:
1. In the Role dialog, under the Report permission group, uncheck the box next to List as Report Author.
2. Click Save. Users assigned this role will not be listed as an applicable contributing or finalizing author in the "Set Authors" dialog in the report workbench.
Make sure the users you want to sign reports and addendums are set to the correct role. To view and change a user’s role, go to Admin > Users and select a user. Then select a role from the Roles dropdown.

Resident workflow

Setting finalizing and contributing authors for a report

Let’s say you’re a resident at your site, responsible for drafting (but not signing) reports. You want to set an attending radiologist as the finalizing author to review and sign the draft report.

Open a report from a report list.

Click on the Authors section at the top of the report. The Set Authors dialog will appear.

💡 If you draft a report and change the status to Ready for Review, you'll be automatically set as a contributing author.
As a Resident, you don’t have the ability to sign reports by default. You will be automatically set as a contributing author, as long as you have the "List as Report Author" permission. Learn more about automatic author assignment.

Select the finalizing author. This is the person you’d like to sign the report—that day’s attending radiologist, for example. If you leave this blank and finish the draft report, it will go into a report list without any finalizing author set.

💡 If turned on, Apply to all reports until next logout will save your choice of author for your current session. This saves you time, as you can skip author selection for all subsequent reports.
Click the Set button to close the dialog. The authors are now set, visible at the top of the report under Authors.
Dictate your report.

(Optional) Add a note. This will appear under the Activity tab on the left, visible to all who have permission to view the report.
To finish the report, either:
- Click Ready for review, or
- Click the dropdown arrow next to Ready for review then click Sign Preliminary Report
  
  💡 If you set the report status as Ready for Review, you'll be automatically set as a contributing author. If you Sign the report, you'll be automatically set as the finalizing author.
  
  💡 The preconfigured "Resident" role gives the user permission to sign preliminary reports by default, but you can change this. Learn more about roles and permissions

Return to the report list. You’ll notice that Finalizing and Contributing authors are now listed under their respective columns in the table.

Editing finalizing and contributing authors for a report

Open a report from a report list.
Select Authors at the top of the report. The Set Authors dialog will appear.
Make your edits, then click the Set button. The authors are now set, visible at the top of the report under Authors.

Using the finalizing author's templates

Once a finalizing author is set for a report, you can easily browse their template collections and apply one of their templates to the report.

Open a report from a report list.
In the report workbench, go to the Templates view.
Click the filter icon next to the search field to manage your subscribed collections and how they appear in your Templates view.
If a finalizing author has been set for the report, their template collections will appear in a dedicated Finalizing Author Collections section for easy access. Learn more about templates and macros.

Addending a finalized report

New information has come to light, and you need to include an addendum to a finalized report.

Open the finalized report from a report list.

Click the Addend Report button at the top of the signed report.

Note that addendum authors are now listed at the top of the report. Click on Addendum authors to edit the finalizing and contributing authors for the addendum.

Dictate the addendum.

To finish the addendum, click Ready for review.

Go to the report list. The status of the report has changed to Draft (A) for "addendum", with the finalizing and contributing authors listed under the relevant columns.

Radiologist workflow

Signing a report

Let’s say you’re the attending radiologist at your site, responsible for signing reports.

Go to the report list. If you’ve been set as a finalizing author for a draft, your name will appear in the Finalizing column.

💡 Want to only see "in review" reports in which you're the finalizing author? Go to Documents >Signing queue. Learn more about filtered views
Open and review the drafted report.
(Optional) Click the Authors section at the top of the report to bring up the Set Authors dialog. You can edit the finalizing and contributing authors.
If the draft looks good, click the Sign button at the top of the Reporting Editor. The Confirm Sign Report dialog will appear.

💡 When you Sign the report, you'll be automatically set as the finalizing author as long as you have the "List as Report Author" permission. Learn more about automatic author assignment.
If required at your site, use the dropdown to select the appropriate attestation statement. Then click Sign Report.
The report is now marked as Finalized in report lists.

Acquiring a report

Let’s imagine you’re the attending radiologist. You need to finalize a report, but another user has been set as the finalizing author. Here’s how to take ownership of the report:

Open the report in draft status from a report list.

Click the Acquire button at the top of the report.
A dialog will appear. Check the box if you'd like to reset the previous finalizing author as a contributing author.

Click Acquire. You’ve now set as the finalizing author.
Click Sign to finalize the report.

Configuring automatic impressions

Auto Mode is a setting that, when enabled, automatically generates an impression when your focus enters the Impression section in the report workspace.

As an attending radiologist, you may wish to have Auto Mode on most of of the time—but off when reviewing reports as a finalizing author. Here's how to achieve that:

⚠️ This setting only applies to reports that carry the "in review" status.

Select Profile > Personal Settings from the main navigation menu on the left-hand side.
Scroll down to the Omni section.
(If not already enabled) Under Auto Mode, turn on the toggle: Automatically generate impression when focus enters impression section.
Determine the modalities to which Auto Mode will apply.
Turn off the toggle: When reviewing reports as finalizing author.

Now impressions won't be automatically generated when reviewing reports—so long as you're set as the finalizing author and the report is "in review". Impressions will still be generated automatically in all other cases.

Opening filtered views of the report list

You can open filtered views of any report list to help stay focused on specific types of reports. For example, you may only want to view reports or addendums in which you're set as an author.

Open the main navigation menu on the left-hand side.

Under Reports there are five filtered views to choose from:
- Signing Queue—shows preliminary and "in review" reports in which you’re set as a finalizing or contributing author.
- Unassigned Queue—shows preliminary and "in review" reports in which no finalizing author has been set. Also shows draft addendums with no finalizing author set.
- Signed Reports—shows finalized reports in which you’re set as a finalizing or contributing author.
- Drafts—shows draft reports in which you’re set as a finalizing or contributing author. Does not include preliminary reports.
- Deleted Drafts—shows deleted draft reports in which you were set as a finalizing or contributing author.

Setting up attestation statements

As an organization, you may require confirmation from finalizing authors that the information provided in a report is accurate. This can be achieved through attestation statements.

Before you start, make sure you're assigned the role of admin for all sites in your organization.
Select Admin > System Config from the main navigation menu on the left-hand side.
Scroll down to Attestations.
Click the + button to add an attestation statement.
Type in your attestation statement.
Repeat steps 4-6 to continue adding as many statements as you wish. These will be displayed as options in the dialog that appears to finalizing authors when they sign a report.
If you added multiple statements, mark the one you'd like to be selected by default. If no statement is marked as the default, the first statement will be the default.

Troubleshooting

I'm not able to set contributing or finalizing authors for reports or addendums

Check with your site admin that the role you've been assigned has the necessary permissions. To set contributing/finalizing authors for reports and addendums, make sure you have the List Users permission enabled.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if two or more users try to work on the same report at the same time?

Only one user can work on a report at any given time. When a user opens a report, it gets locked to everyone else. In the Reporting report list, the report’s status will change to dictating.

If a second user tries to open a report, a dialog will appear notifying the user that the report is locked.

If a second user tries to open a locked report from a third-party worklist, the same dialog will appear in Rad AI Reporting with a button to return to the worklist.

If a report gets marked as 'ready for review', does it get sent out as an observation result (ORU)?

No, marking a report as 'ready for review' does not send the report as an ORU. It changes the status of the report to 'ready for review', visible in the report list and signing queues of users set as finalizing or contributing authors.

Can we require certain users to set a finalizing author?

Yes, there's a permission for that. Go to Admin > Roles > [select role] > Report > Mark as Review/Prelim With No Finalizing Author:

If checked, users assigned to this role will be able to change the report status to “in review” or “preliminary” without setting a finalizing author.
If unchecked, users assigned to this role will be required to set a finalizing author on changing the report status to “in review” or “preliminary”.

What happens when I sign a report as 'preliminary'?

The report will be sent out as an ORU, marked with 'P' status.

Are contributing author's names added to the observation result (ORU) message?

Yes, contributing authors are added to the ORU message in their respective OBX segments.

Does multi-author workflow integrate with my third-party worklist?

Yes, you can continue using your third-party worklist. Your worklist will be automatically updated when you take actions in the report, such as editing the contributing and finalizing authors.

As a Resident, do I have to set a finalizing author every time I dictate a report?

No. You can activate the toggle Keep selected on future reports in the Set Authors dialog. This will save your choice of author until you log out. This saves you time, as you can skip author selection for all subsequent reports.

Is multi-author workflow suitable for large academic medical centers?

Yes, but it depends on your needs. You can create as many roles as you’d like, allowing different types of users to contribute to a report (although not at the same time).

Email support@radai.com if there are certain features you require for multi-author workflow at your organization.

Do you support transcriptionist or correctionist workflows?

In the current version of multi-author workflow, we don’t support correctionist or transcriptionist workflows. However, we’re open to feedback from customers on future iterations of this feature.

Does multi-author workflow support audio files for transcriptionists?

Traditionally, transcriptionists may have accessed a radiologist’s report and transcribed their dictation. This is not possible in Rad AI Reporting, since reports don’t support audio files. We recommend radiologists use AI features to save time dictating and automate reporting, freeing up transcriptionists for other tasks.

How does automatic author assignment work in Rad AI Reporting?

Automatic author assignment is controlled by the List as Report Author permission in Admin > Roles > [Select role]. If your role has this permission, you can be auto‑added as an author and listed as an applicable author in the Set Authors dialog in the report workbench. If it’s disabled, you can still edit (with the right permissions) but you’re never listed as a contributing or finalizing author.

For users whose role has "List as Report Author":

Creating a report or addendum makes you an author (finalizing if you have the "Sign Report" permission, contributing otherwise).
Opening a report with no finalizing author and having the "Sign Report" permission makes you the finalizing author.
Signing a preliminary report or marking a report "Ready for Review" adds you as a contributing author if you aren’t already listed.

For users whose role does not have the "List as Report Author" permission (for example, correctionists or certain admins), none of these actions will add you as an author, and your name won’t appear in the author drop-down list, even though you can still open and edit reports as usual.

Related to

Role name	Permissions
Resident	❌ Sign Report ❌ Sign Addendum
Radiologist	✔ Sign Report ✔ Sign Addendum