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.

Sentara Healthcare selects Accelarad for cloud-based image exchange

Sentara Healthcare, a not-for-profit health system with sites in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, has selected Accelarad’s cloud-based medical imaging platform, SeeMyRadiology.com, to share and store images throughout the organization’s Hampton Roads, Va., hospitals and imaging centers.

Pomona Valley Hospital opts for Siemens/Dell VNA

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in California has selected Siemens’ Image Sharing & Archiving (ISA) system, supported by Dell, to use as its cloud-based, vendor-neutral image archive.

Khorasani details 3 building blocks to integrate EMR data into rad workflow

The adoption of EMRs brings a major performance opportunity for radiology, according to Ramin Khorasani, MD, MPH, vice chair of informatics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and author of a column in the December issue of the Journal of American College of Radiology. However, the process of cobbling EMR data in to radiology workflow is riddled with obstacles.

RSNA: NovaRad expands diagnostic suite

Novarad unveiled enhancements to NovaPACS at RSNA and showed updates to NovaRIS and NovaDash at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Merge’s enterprise clinical platform available through EMC Select

Merge Healthcare has partnered with EMC to make its iConnect Enterprise Clinical platform available through EMC Select, a program which helps customers acquire components that comprise an information infrastructure.

RSNA: Image manipulation tools make for inconsistent findings in the NICU

CHICAGO—The ability to manipulate chest images in PACS worsened already poor consistency in reporting between radiologists and neonatologists, according to a poster presentation Nov. 27 at RSNA 2012. In an interview with Health Imaging, the lead researcher called for a larger multi-center study to quantify the extent of the problem and suggested operational and technical approaches to address the issue.

RSNA: Beyond Meaningful Use

CHICAGO— Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, vice chairman of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, reflected on the question of whether Meaningful Use (MU) has moved into the radiology mainstream or not. The answer is a resounding yes. During the Eugene P. Pendergrass New Horizons Lecture Nov. 26 at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, Dreyer shared a few figures to demonstrate the point and considered imaging informatics in an MU model.

RSNA: Can imaging informatics resurrect the doctor’s doctor?

CHICAGO—When his father retired from radiology, the senior Chang told his son he was glad to be retiring because Chang and the rest of the “PACS people” had destroyed radiology, Paul J. Chang, MD, professor and vice chairman, radiology informatics, at The University of Chicago Medicine, told the audience during the Eugene P. Pendergrass New Horizons Lecture Nov. 26 at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Around the web

CCTA is being utilized more and more for the diagnosis and management of suspected coronary artery disease. An international group of specialists shared their perspective on this ongoing trend.

The new technology shows early potential to make a significant impact on imaging workflows and patient care. 

Richard Heller III, MD, RSNA board member and senior VP of policy at Radiology Partners, offers an overview of policies in Congress that are directly impacting imaging.