Ultrasound Reporting Software: The 2026 Enterprise Checklist

Ultrasound reporting software retrieves modality measurements, performs analytics, and merges technologist/sonographer findings into the radiologist’s report to eliminate retypes or dictation. For a radiology department, the best ultrasound reporting software does that for every ultrasound exam, inside the dictation system radiologists already use, and keeps doing it even after software updates.

This page is a checklist for imaging centers and radiology departments choosing sonography reporting software in 2026. It covers what to ask every vendor, including us, and where Imorgon fits.

Why departments are looking now

• Volume: imaging study volume is growing about 5% a year (MarketsandMarkets), and the workforce isn’t keeping pace.
• Workload: top-quartile radiologists read 30.6% more examinations per day than in 2018 (Zamani et al., J Am Coll Radiol, 2026).
• Cost of a minute: SullivanCotter reports radiology compensation is up 12% to 18% since 2024.
• Dictation platforms: PowerScribe 360 is retiring. Full end of life is August 31, 2027. A migration is the natural time to fix how data gets into the report.

The right software pays for itself in minutes. Imaging departments using Imorgon save an average of 2 minutes per sonographer exam and 1 to 2 minutes per radiologist report.

DICOM SR automation and data normalization

Reporting and workflow efficiency start with measurements that arrive automatically. When an ultrasound exam is completed, the scanner sends measurements as a DICOM SR (structured report) file. Ultrasound report software reads that file and places each value in the right place in the report.

Reading the file is the easy part. Vendors use different units (cm or mm), precision (x.xx or x.x) and labels, and some record the same measurement differently depending on which buttons the sonographer pressed. Shear-wave elastography is a good test: one vendor’s values need converting before they match the units the report expects. Ask every vendor how they normalize values from each scanner model you own.

DICOM SR, the file format, is different from a structured radiology report, the organized layout of the report itself (see the RSNA RadReport templates). Our article on the four levels of structured reporting covers the difference.

Sonographer findings, not just measurements

Measurements are only part of the report; the ultrasound findings are the rest. About half of the input fields in a finished report come from the technologist’s worksheet rather than from the modality’s measurements (Imorgon internal data, see the analysis). Software that moves only measurements leaves the radiologist dictating the other half.

What to look for in the worksheet:

• Customization. An academic department and an outpatient imaging center need different worksheets. Ask whether yours can be changed, and who changes it.
• Conditional text. Most reporting software’s text generation is simple and one-to-one, so the radiologist dictates around each value. Better software auto-populates the fields it already knows and writes a complete sentence from one or two clicks. Good worksheets produce more detailed documentation with fewer clicks. A useful test is the fewest clicks needed to finish an exam.
• Exceptions. Masses, cysts, and fibroids are where conditional text pays off: one or two clicks produce the full description, with its own line in the report.
• Only what applies. Worksheets that show every possible field are electronic paper. Good ones hide what doesn’t apply, and work as a checklist that keeps studies comprehensive whoever is scanning.

The result lands in the radiologist’s own dictation system as a drafted report:

Priors and interval change

Finding and retyping prior measurements is slow and error-prone: manual lookups add errors and data-entry delays of 5% to 10%. Imorgon automatically fetches prior measurements and calculates volumes and interval change, such as percent growth since the last exam, so the report includes the comparison before the radiologist opens it.

Guideline calculators and normal ranges

The American College of Radiology (ACR) publishes scoring systems such as TI-RADS and O-RADS to standardize interpretation. When the calculator lives inside the worksheet, the score and its inputs reach the report together, and nobody re-enters the features in a separate tool.

The same applies to normal ranges. A fixed range flags a number; a range for the patient’s age or size explains it, to the radiologist and to the referring doctor. A pediatric kidney length, for example, means little without the child’s age and height. Ask whether the software can apply published reference tables, and whether the report says which one it used.

Enterprise integration

Most imaging centers and radiology practices read MR, CT, X-ray, and more, with ultrasound only about 20% of the workflow, and their radiologists report all of it in one dictation system. Ultrasound reporting software has to fit that workflow rather than add another application.

• Dictation systems: PowerScribe 360, PowerScribe One, Fluency, and others, including custom ones.
• EHR: standard HL7 and FHIR interfaces, with Epic (or another EHR) launching the right worksheet for each patient.
• Exams: every ultrasound exam, from abdominal and pelvic to vascular, thyroid and OB/GYN. The same engine automates other reports too: DXA (bone density), where the scanner’s data is notoriously messy; CT radiation dose; and results from AI programs such as HeartFlow FFR-CT, where Imorgon turns the numbers into a drafted impression.

Specialty systems for OB/MFM, vascular or echocardiography are often excellent in their field, some with AI and cloud options. The trade-off is a separate worklist and application for each specialty, which adds IT overhead. Decide whether you want a specialist tool for one service line or one standard across the department.

Already own ModLink? Read this first

Many PowerScribe sites already own ModLink. It came bundled with the dictation system, and it often sits half-deployed. Before you build on it, know what you’re signing up for:

• It’s do-it-yourself. Every measurement is mapped by hand to a dictation-system field, using DICOM SR codes that include vendor-private ones. Your IT team builds it, and your IT team owns it.
• Nobody keeps it current for you. When a scanner software update changes how measurements are coded, mapped values quietly stop arriving, and the fix goes back on your IT team’s list.
• There are no real worksheets. ModLink moves modality values into custom fields. Its user help describes no screen where the sonographer records findings, so the other half of the report is still dictated.
• Normal limits are one fixed range per field, flagged with an asterisk. Every patient gets the same range, whatever their age or size.

ModLink moves numbers. Imorgon delivers the drafted report: measurements, sonographer findings, priors and guideline calculators, built and maintained by us, with support 24/7/365. (ModLink details: ModLink 3.0.2 User Help, Hyland, 2019.)

Governance

An on-premises deployment keeps protected health information (PHI) under the institution’s physical and logical control, simplifying data-sovereignty and security reviews. Imorgon installs on-premises: patient data stays on your servers, under your security controls.

Operational continuity

Ultrasound runs overnight and on weekends, so reliable support has to run then too: 24/7/365. Ask what happens after go-live, too. Scanner manufacturers change their DICOM SR structures in software updates, and previously mapped measurements can quietly stop transferring. Get a commitment that unmapped measurements will be fixed, and find out who does the fixing: your IT team or the vendor.

Automation also needs IT, sonography and radiology to agree on standardized workflows. A good vendor brings expert guidance on each manufacturer’s DICOM SR structure and your scan protocols, so worksheets fit each department without disrupting reading.

Comparing the three approaches

	DIY (e.g. ModLink)	Specialty reporting system	Imorgon
Measurements into the report	Yes, once your IT team maps each field by hand	Yes, within its specialty	Yes, every exam, mapped and maintained by us
Sonographer worksheets	None	Yes, within its specialty	Yes, findings written as report sentences
Normal ranges	One fixed range per field	Varies	Customizable, guideline tables, by age or size
Where the radiologist works	The dictation system	Often a separate application	The dictation system
When a scanner update breaks a mapping	Your IT team fixes it	The vendor	We fix it, 24/7/365

Peer validation

Questions buyers ask

More reading: three features that make ultrasound reporting automatic, why DICOM SR automation is harder than expected, and who we are.