Enterprise Imaging

Enterprise imaging brings together all imaging exams, patient data and reports from across a healthcare system into one location to aid efficiency and economy of scale for data storage. This enables immediate access to images and reports any clinical user of the electronic medical record (EMR) across a healthcare system, regardless of location. Enterprise imaging (EI) systems replace the former system of using a variety of disparate, siloed picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS), and a variety of separate, dedicated workstations and logins to view or post-process different imaging modalities. Often these siloed systems cannot interoperate and cannot easily be connected. Web-based EI systems are becoming the standard across most healthcare systems to incorporate not only radiology, but also cardiology (CVIS), pathology and dozens of other departments to centralize all patient data into one cloud-based data storage and data management system.

Better Than Aspirin: Modality Testing and Troubleshooting

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

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

Taking Care of Maine

Maine is a sizable state geographically, but its extreme northeastern positioning takes it off the beaten path. It’s a place tailor-made for electronic transmission of radiological images, and Radiology Specialists of Maine (RSM) in Brunswick is turning to technology to expand coverage in ways that it hasn’t before. It may be something of a

CIIP Update: Getting Certified Got Easier

There’s no single textbook, and no specified curriculum, but preparing for the certified imaging informatics professional (CIIP) examination just got a bit easier with the completion of the learning objectives for each of the 10 domains of the American Board of Imaging Informatics (ABII) Test Content Outline (TCO).

Issue Tracking for Image Quality Improvement

Paul Nagy, PhD, is director of quality and informatics research and associate professor of radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. On November 27, 2007, he presented Developing the Infrastructure (Quality Control in Radiology) at the annual RSNA meeting in Chicago, with the stated goal of helping his audience

Optimizing Coronary CTA Workflow: How We Do It

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) provides an accurate evaluation of coronary-artery disease and coronary-artery anomalies, and it gives us the ability to evaluate the cardiac chambers, myocardium, and valves. Effective deployment of CCTA service requires optimization of workflow to make this procedure cost effective and practical.

IT as Gatekeeper: Who’s on PACS?

Allowing physicians, whether they are referrers or outside specialists, access to an outpatient radiology practice’s PACS is a subject that is being discussed with increasing frequency among CIOs.

PACS Administrator Success Indicators

What does it take to be a successful PACS administrator? As we work with clients across the country, we are commonly asked this question. The answer lies in both understanding the multiple roles this person is asked to play and the resources that will be available to support him or her.

Quick Tips to Maximize your PACS Site Visit

Selecting a PACS vendor is a long process requiring a significant amount of due diligence. Unfortunately, after the research, vendor demonstrations, and analysis of lengthy RFP responses, fatigue often sets in. As a result, one of the concluding, valuable steps—the PACS site visit—is often skipped or minimized. PACS site visits, however, if planned

Around the web

The new F-18 flurpiridaz radiotracer is expected to help drive cardiac PET growth, but it requires waiting between rest and stress scans. Software from MultiFunctional Imaging can help care teams combat that problem.

News of an incident is a stark reminder that healthcare workers and patients aren’t the only ones who need to be aware around MRI suites.

The ACR hopes these changes, including the addition of diagnostic performance feedback, will help reduce the number of patients with incidental nodules lost to follow-up each year.