Many facilities have now seen the benefits of utilizing Web-basedRIS/PACS as a means to stay competitive, maximize relationships withthe physician community, reduce expenses and streamline billing.Outpatient imaging center, Dynamic Medical Imaging in Columbus,Ohio—the first in the community to implement stand-up MRI when itopened its doors in 2006—knew it was not a question of whether toimplement a Web-based RIS/PACS—but which one to buy. The facility, thathas a service area of 1.7 million people and attracts referrals acrossa 4-hour radius, multi-state area, ultimately chose the CentricityRIS/PACS-IW from GE Healthcare.

Making the decision to migrate to a second-generation PACS raisesnumerous questions. How to avoid problems associated with previousproducts while successfully planning for the future? Several facilitiesthat have made the transition share their experience and advice.

Why an imaging provider today chooses Web-based PACS or RIS/PACS comesdown to versatility, flexibility, accessibility, simplicity,robustness, user-friendliness, scalability and economics. Simply put,that’s just what the 10 imaging facility groups and businesses in thissupplement offer.

A little-noticed provision in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003could result in the recovery of a sizeable portion of overpayments byMedicare and has healthcare providers concerned that overzealous bountyhunters may come knocking on their door.

Most of the time we should ignore the headlines (especially the doomand gloom of late), put our heads down and move forward with gumption.I’m far from encouraging ostrich-like behavior, but daily news ofeconomic slides and more CMS reimbursement cuts can overwhelm. We needto filter out what we need to act on in the short term versus planningstrategically for the long term, then draft and navigate a plan. Likethe certainty of death and taxes, people will continue to get sick. Andwe as an industry need to be here to diagnose, treat and care for them.

Western Neurological Associates first installed PACS in 2002, but soonthereafter decided to upgrade. “We wanted a system that wasuser-friendly, affordable and scalable to our size,” says ImagingManager Linda Monty, RT(R)(MR)(CT). “We needed something that wouldwork for us and for our referring physicians, and the Web-based productthat we chose has really facilitated that.”

Marion General Hospital, a 165-bed hospital in Marion, Ohio, has signeda seven-year, remote hosting services agreement for GE Healthcare’sCentricity Enterprise solution.

Monmouth Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health CareSystem, has implemented the O-Arm imaging system, a devicethat can take CT scan images of the body during surgery, manufacturedby Breakaway Imaging and distributed by Medtronic.