The road to a distributed reading model is paved with WAN accelerators, DICOM gateways, and sleepless nights, to hear one practice CIO describe it. Nonetheless, three and a half years after he began building a distributed reading solution to support the subspecialty reading model of Columbus, Ohio-based Riverside Radiology, CIO Ron Hosenfeld sleeps

Why does it typically take several days to get a new modality up and running, from a connectivity perspective?

With the cost of advanced imaging technology always on the rise and reimbursement continually declining, now, more than ever, it is crucial that imaging centers negotiate optimal managed care contracts. Unfortunately, managed care is currently targeting imaging centers, owing to concerns about overutilization and escalating costs. How can imaging

When it comes to size and influence, Austin Radiological Association (ARA) has few peers. The practice of 72—and soon to be more—radiologists employs 700 people (580 FTEs) in Austin. In addition to covering every one of the 16 hospitals in central Texas, ARA archives most of the radiological images generated at those sites on its regional PACS. The

Devising an imaging-center strategy and choosing a piece of technology take the imaging-center operator only halfway toward the successful conclusion of a technology plan of action: Further decisions and additional initiatives will be necessary before a piece of technology is successfully deployed.An imaging-center operator must determine whether

Does turning to a PACS vendor for disaster archiving add certainty and ease to the recovery process when a mishap occurs and images must be retrieved or a PACS database must be reestablished? One New York hospital’s radiology department thought so. The PACS administrator confirms that events have proved it right so far.