PACS

Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have replaced conventional radiographic films as the digital image-viewing hub over the past two decades and now serve as the primary communication bridge between radiologists, radiologic technologists and referring providers. PACS enables all authorized clinicians to access medical images and reports quickly, easily and from virtually any location. Some health systems have integrated PACS into the electronic medical record (EMR). Others have moved to enterprise image systems to replace radiology PACS and allow all departments to now store images and reports in one location for easier health system-wide access.

RamSoft Expands PowerServer RIS/PACS/MU Customer Base in California

RamSoft, a developer of RIS, PACS, and Teleradiology workflow solutions, adds Stockdale Radiology to its roster of clients. Founded by Drs. David Suadi and Gabriel Gelves, Stockdale Radiology is a brand new, state-of-the-art imaging center in Bakersfield, CA offering advanced imaging services to the Central Valley. They selected PowerServer RIS/PACS/MU to manage their workflow and to collect the data required for Meaningful Use Attestation.

Trend Toward Regional and National Installations Will Cause Shifts in European PACS, RIS and CVIS Market Shares

Vendors Will Engage in Aggressive Price Competition to Win Public Tenders, According to Findings from Decision Resources Group BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources Group finds that expansion of the European market for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS) and cardiovascular information systems (CVIS) will be hindered by the debt crisis and radiology cuts in the region. The resulting budget constraints have led to deferred purchases of new and replacement PACS, RIS and CVIS for many countries in 2013, as well as the cancellation of a significant number of public tenders for these systems, particularly in the more severely affected markets in Italy and Spain.

Sharp Healthcare: Paving the Way for an All-inclusive PACS

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

Sharp HealthCare (San Diego, California) has undertaken multiple initiatives aimed at implementing organizational and service improvements, as well as enhanced patient care and clinical outcomes. Its latest endeavor is the imminent addition of a PACS that will accommodate non–DICOM images and that, as such, will facilitate enterprise image sharing across specialties, modalities, and facilities (as well as with clinical entities outside its boundaries).

Lexmark Buys PACSGEAR for $54 Million

In order to improve Lexmark’s Perceptive healthcare content management and workflow solutions and vendor neutral archive (VNA), Lexmark International has acquired leading PACS connectivity platform PACSGEAR for a cash purchase price of approximately $54 million

Breast Tomosynthesis and the PACS: The Journey to Sustainable Workflow

Sponsored by Sectra

The emergence of a new, powerful imaging modality is cause for both celebration and consternation, and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has proven no exception to this rule, according to participants in a June 8 educational forum at the 2013 meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM), held in Grapevine, Texas. Early results from sites offering DBT to their patients have been nothing short of extraordinary: X-ray Associates of New Mexico (XRANM) in Albuquerque, for instance, reports a 48% reduction in its recall rate, while the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) in Pennsylvania has seen a 40% increase in detection of invasive breast cancers, with a reduction in false positives of 15%.

IU Health: Using Workflow-centered Cardiology PACS for Improved Care

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

Named as one of the best US hospitals by US News & World Report for 5 years, Indiana University Health (IU Health), Indianapolis, aims to provide a unified standard of preeminent, patient-centered care in partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine. Strategies for attaining such a goal include the deployment of increasingly

SIIM News: Fujifilm Demos Latest PACS, RIS and VNA

To get the attention of Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) attendees, Stamford, Conn.-based Fujifilm Medical demonstrated its latest version of Synapse PACs and Synapse RIS at the conference in Grapevine-Dallas, Texas, from June 6-9.

PACS Continuity in the Eye of Hurricane Sandy: Bellevue Hospital Center

Sponsored by Sectra

When Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath devastated New York, New York, in October 2012, perhaps no one was more vulnerable than the patients needing care in area hospitals. Eli Tarlow, CIO of the city’s Bellevue Hospital Center (BHC), recalls, “It was the best of times and worst of times—a natural event that no one could have prevented. You really see the best of your staff in moments of crisis, and that held true during Hurricane Sandy. Staff members at all levels volunteered to do anything necessary, from bringing needed supplies up and down many flights of stairs to helping with preparing or delivering food for patients. Nothing came between the employees and the work that needed to be done to maintain patient care.”

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