Imaging Informatics

Leveraging IT for Better Service

Don Trexler, CEO of Baton Rouge Radiology Group (BRRG) in Louisiana, wants his practice to be different from a typical imaging group.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, February 15, 2010

Marooned on Level 3: Leverage IT to Improve Reporting

In a December 2 session at RSNA 2009 in Chicago, Illinois, on using next-generation health care IT to improve radiology, David Avrin, MD, PhD, radiologist at the University of California–San Francisco Medical Center, opened with a comment made to him by one of his hospital administrators

Radinformatics, January 10, 2010

Federated-model HIE Connects 16 Unaffiliated Hospitals

When the 16 hospitals of the Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN) sat down to create a federated model for a health information exchange (HIE) four years ago, they could find no examples of unaffiliated institutions sharing health data, so WNCHN essentially began with a tabula rasa.

Radinformatics, January 10, 2010

Catching Up With the Future: The Radiology of Tomorrow

The future is here—it just hasn’t made it to radiology yet.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, December 22, 2009

Toward True Globalization: The Air Force and PACS

Sharing images across any health care enterprise represents a challenge, but doing so across the Pacific Rim was the dilemma faced in 2003 by the US Air Force.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, December 22, 2009

Extending Advanced Visualization Across Multiple Departments

Among the virtues of thin-client 3D advanced visualization are ease and economy of deployment across an enterprise.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, November 18, 2009

Software Allows Virtual PET/MRI Fusion

It was a difficult, but not uncommon, neuroradiology case: A patient suffered seizures, but had, a year before, been cleared of the possibility of epilepsy by a radiologist looking at an MRI study of the patient’s brain.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, November 18, 2009

The Transformational Effects of Informatics on the Practice of Radiology: A Roundtable Discussion

On October 6, 2009, four physicians gathered in Stamford, Connecticut, to participate in a discussion moderated by Cheryl Proval, Radinformatics.com editorial director.

Radinformatics, November 09, 2009

State of the Technology: Geoffrey Rubin, MD, on 3D Visualization

As CT technology continues to advance and the number of slices in a given exam grows exponentially.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, October 14, 2009

At the Intersection of Radiology and the EHR

A tight interface between electronic patient records and PACS does more than further the ARRA objective of improving the quality of health care; it also has significant medicolegal and economic implications

Radiology Business Journal, October 01, 2009

Enterprise Visualization: The CIO Story

When contemplating implementation of an enterprise-wide advanced visualization solution, expect to hear many concerns voiced by various stakeholders—and look for the CIO’s voice to be front and center among them.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, September 10, 2009

RIS Migration at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center

It’s as extreme a transition as any IT professional could imagine: moving from a remotely hosted RIS to a fully integrated RIS/PACS over the course of just a few short months.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, August 18, 2009

View From the Podium: Stanford MDCT Face-Off

By stipulation, there were to be no winners when eight vendors of advanced imaging workstations and their physician teams competed in the Seventh Annual Original Workstation Face-off

ImagingBiz Newsletter, July 15, 2009

PACS Nirvana: University Radiology’s Reporting-driven Workflow

Ever since digital imaging liberated radiologists from the site of image acquisition.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, July 15, 2009

Trends and Tactics for IT Spending

HIMSS: Operating expenses exceed capital costs.

Radiology Business Journal, July 01, 2009

Storage Dilemmas in the MDCT World

Beware the seven myths of PACS storage.

Radiology Business Journal, July 01, 2009

Improving the Hospital-practice IT Interface

A great place to begin improving the interoperability of health care informatics is where the radiology practice and the hospital intersect

Radiology Business Journal, July 01, 2009

Can Health Informatics Reduce Health Care Costs?

The answer to that question may appear obvious to imaging informatics professionals.

Radinformatics, June 15, 2009

Visage Imaging CEO David Chambers: On the Future of Health Care IT

Earlier this year, Pro Medicus Ltd., the Australia-based RIS provider, acquired Visage Imaging.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, June 15, 2009

In the Navy: The DoD and the Future of PACS

The US Navy deployed its first PACS-a military-specified system with limited functionality-in 1996.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, June 15, 2009

A Virtual Coup: The Server Room of the Future

The server requirements of any modern hospital are daunting.

Radinformatics, May 15, 2009

Enterprise Visualization in the Pediatric Environment

The worst advanced visualization system in the world for a pediatric setting is one wherein the only way that referring physicians from across the organization can see 3D reconstructions of diagnostic images is by physically visiting a radiologist at his or her workstation.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, May 15, 2009

ARRA Opportunities and Risks

More is unknown than known about how the $19.2 billion allocated to health IT by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will be awarded and who will be eligible to receive funds.

Radiology Business Journal, May 01, 2009

Radiology and the Economic Stimulus Act

The authors believe that the ARRA largely leaves the specialty out in the cold

Radiology Business Journal, May 01, 2009

Hosted RIS: An Efficient Alternative

When Vanderbilt Imaging Services LLC, the freestanding outpatient radiology practice associated with Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn, opened its doors in 1999, the center decided to implement an alternative to the traditional RIS configuration: a hosted RIS.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, April 15, 2009

Thin-client Enterprise Visualization: A Top-down View

Say that Amazon.com operated using a thick-client model (it doesn’t, but pretend it does for argument’s sake).

ImagingBiz Newsletter, April 15, 2009

Reinventing Medical Imaging

I recently attended a very interesting and intellectually stimulating conference for top leaders in the field of outpatient imaging services.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, April 15, 2009

Masters of Manipulation

Radiologists and vendors race to grasp and improve the tools of advanced visualization as imaging modalities churn out ever more information

Radiology Business Journal, March 15, 2009

Is Custom Reporting Difficult?

Completing a customized report using RIS data-mining software (or some other system) is simply a matter of learning a little technology

Radiology Business Journal, March 01, 2009

Data Mining: Imaging Executives Crunch the Numbers

RIS data, keyed to billing, can be analyzed to improve competitive capability and pare inefficiency to the nub

Radiology Business Journal, March 01, 2009

Through Thick and Thin: The MGH Search for a 3D Solution

Imagine that you run a large city, and that up until now, the sole transportation available has been buses—but with the price of automobiles coming down, citizens suddenly want to drive cars.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, February 15, 2009

Maximizing RIS Potential

The IT needs of today’s radiology practices are ever evolving, and investing in the latest information solutions can be vital to the survival of a business in an increasingly cost-focused marketplace.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, February 15, 2009

The Economic Advantages of Thin-client Technology

Clear clinical benefits have resulted from the widespread adoption of multidetector CT (MDCT) technology, as well as from the use of advanced, contrast-enhanced, and functional MRI applications.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, January 15, 2009

Change Management: Influencing the Uneasy Alliance Between Man and Machine

No one faces a constantly changing landscape more than the CIO at a large health care institution.

Radinformatics, November 15, 2008

How I Do It: Using 3D MRI to Identify High-risk Vascular Disease

Stroke and heart attack are major killers, not only in the Western world but, increasingly, throughout the developing industrial nations.

Radinformatics, November 15, 2008

IT’s Cross-functional Business Agenda

Increasingly, radiology-practice CIOs and their hospital counterparts are being called on to interact with leadership across the organization to help drive strategic initiatives.

Radinformatics, November 15, 2008

PACS/RIS Replacement: Cheating the Big Bang

Replacing technology is always nerve-wracking, but it is particularly volatile when the systems being replaced are a PACS and a RIS, systems at the heart of daily function for radiology departments and hospitals.

Radinformatics, November 15, 2008

When Worlds Collide: Integrating Radiology and Cardiology Imaging

On August 24, 2008, Good Samaritan Hospital, Vincennes, Ind, became the first site in the country to go live with integration between the Synapse PACS from FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA Inc, Stamford, Conn.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, November 15, 2008

Patricia Whelan, MHA, CIO: Leading Shield’s E-strategy Charge

Armed with a master’s degree in health administration from Ohio State, Patricia Whelan, MHA, went to work for Ohio State Medical Center in 1993.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, October 15, 2008

Information Theft: How to Prevent It

What do hospital administrators and their CIOs fear above all else?

Radinformatics, September 15, 2008

Avoiding Nightmare PACS Outages

Preparation is the difference between unexpected PACS downtime and a nightmare, Michael D. Toland told his audience in Seattle on May 17 at the 2008 annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.

Radinformatics, September 15, 2008

Long-term Data Management and Migration for PACS

PACS data migration is so important that every PACS acquisition should include a plan for outbound migration at the end of that system’s life.

Radinformatics, September 15, 2008

How I Do It: Maximizing Efficiency in CTA Interpretation

They’re coming, and in many hospitals, they have already arrived: multidetector CT (MDCT), CT angiography (CTA), and advanced 3D imaging.

Radinformatics, September 15, 2008

Advance Preparation Is Key to Smooth Migration

When John Mowry, digital imaging manager at Cook’s Children’s Health Care System, Fort Worth, Tex, decided to switch from his legacy PACS to a thin-client, Web-based model, he faced a particularly daunting migration situation.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, August 15, 2008

Role of the Practice CIO

The adoption of PACS by radiology practices has added a new member to their executive committees: the CIO.

Radiology Business Journal, June 15, 2008

Leverage PACS IT Support to Grow Referrals

While radiology practices and imaging center operators spend heavily on marketing liaisons to help cement favorable referral patterns, few understand the role that hands-on PACS IT support can play.

Radinformatics, May 15, 2008

My PET/CT Experience: Adding a New Modality to PACS

It was a Tuesday afternoon when I received the call. The new PET/CT scanner was installed, and acceptance testing was about to begin, but my medical physicist informed me that PACS was not listed as a destination. 

Radinformatics, May 15, 2008

Grow Your Multisite Business With a Single Sign-on Solution

Six months ago, Jesse Salen, vice president of sales and technology for Online Radiology Medical Group (ORMG), Riverside, Calif, found himself in a situation familiar to many radiology practices.

Radinformatics, May 15, 2008

Intersociety Conference Urges Adoption of Structured Reports

Aside from referrers’ clear-cut preference for structured reports, radiologists have added cause to adopt the use of structured reporting.

Radinformatics, May 15, 2008

A CIO at the Table

Most radiology practices have not invited their CIOs onto the executive committee, but a recent survey from the Center for CIO Leadership suggests that it may be time to set another place at the table.

Radinformatics, May 15, 2008

Advanced Visualization: A Do-it-yourself Approach

With three-dimensional and other advanced visualization tools being used for a greater share of CT and other imaging studies.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, May 15, 2008

In-house vs Outsource for 3D: A Questionnaire for Determining the Breakeven Point

It’s coming. In many hospitals, it has already arrived. We’re talking about multidetector CT (MDCT), CT angiography, and advanced 3D imaging.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, April 15, 2008

Enterprise PACS: A Good Thing for Radiology?

PACS took 20 years to mature as a technology in radiology, and it is a necessity today for cost-effective, productive imaging operations.

Radiology Business Journal, March 15, 2008

Get on Board With Virtualized Servers

As any PACS administrator can attest, the cost of advanced imaging technology is higher than the price of a new CT or PET scanner.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, March 15, 2008

The 3D Imaging Lab:In-house or Outsource?

Staying abreast with (or, better yet, staying ahead of) the imaging-technology curve clearly follows a clinical imperative.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, March 15, 2008

Look, No Hands: Reports Go Directly to Referrer EMRs

John Griffith, CIO of Epic Imaging, Portland, Ore, says, “They asked us for it, and we had to come up with a solution.”

Radinformatics, February 15, 2008

Better Than Aspirin: Modality Testing and Troubleshooting

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

Radinformatics, February 15, 2008

CIIP Update: Getting Certified Got Easier

There’s no single textbook, and no specified curriculum.

Radinformatics, February 15, 2008

When Disaster Means No Recovery

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.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, January 15, 2008

College, 3D Lab Partner in Web-based Advanced Visualization Training

The nation’s first curriculum-based program for volumetric imaging began as do many collaborations between local businesses and technical colleges.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, January 15, 2008

Wake Radiology Reduces Risk with Tier II+ Data Center

In the fall of 2005, 58-member Wake Radiology found itself feeling vulnerable.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, November 15, 2007

Achieving Return on a Dedicated 3D Service

A dedicated 3D service can improve patient care and enhance operational efficiency.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, November 15, 2007

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.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, October 15, 2007

Radia Homogenizes Client Base with Homegrown Worklist

The PACS has come a long way since its inception, enabling communications among all imaging stakeholders in a hospital or health system.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, September 15, 2007

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.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, September 15, 2007

Quick Tips to Maximize your PACS Site Visit

Selecting a PACS vendor is a long process requiring a significant amount of due diligence.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, July 15, 2007

Data and Destiny: A Conversation with Commissure CEO Michael Mardini

The mantra for practice management in the post-DRA era is data management, and everyone knows how much data a radiology practice can produce.

ImagingBiz Newsletter, June 12, 2007

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