Health Imaging & IT - February 2008 - (Page 15)

By Lisa Fratt For many sites, PACS is an enterprise—rather than radiology department—investment. The enterprise approach packs a powerful punch. It delivers cost-savings, efficiencies and improved care. But as PACS extends throughout the enterprise—either to separate campuses or to other “ologies” beyond radiology—it can grow more complicated. Depending on the project, the enterprise may need to consider and develop or revamp interfaces, enterprise patient identifiers, network connections, legacy equipment and more. This month, Health Imaging & IT visits a few sites that have taken PACS to enterprise level to learn more about the benefits and best practices. Interfaces optimize performance Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital in Beaumont, Texas, is an enterprise success story. This 247-bed community hospital deployed Philips Healthcare iSite PACS and Xcelera Cardiology in 2006. At the time, the hospital’s image management needs were fairly pressing. For starters, the hospital was experiencing rapid growth. And, as a rural provider, the hospital aimed to become a complete healthcare system via a telemedicine program with Houston-based Hermann Hospital. The key elements of the hospital’s enterprise solutions include PACS, the cardiology information system and key interfaces between the departmental systems and its hospital information system (HIS) and radiology information system (RIS). The HIS interface allows clinicians to access HL7 data such as patient demographics and lab results and DICOM images in a single session. The clinical module is very popular among referring physicians, says Director of Medical Imaging Chuck Self. In fact, the radiology department has grown its business from 75,000 studies annually to 130,000 exams since deploying iSite two years ago. Self credits the successful implementation to a robust test process. After installing a test server, Philips worked with the hospital’s IT and administrative teams to map HL7 information and develop necessary interfaces. The IT department also installed a separate LAN for the radiology department so its traffic did not interfere with other hospital operations. In addition to the LAN and PACS server, the hospital configured workstations to meet the unique needs of various user groups. On the floors, it converted enterprise 17-inch, flat-panel display systems into image review stations. The ER viewing solution is a bit beefier with 20-inch, 2 megapixel (MP) displays, and cardiac surgeons use mobile carts with dual 20-inch, 2MP displays to view cardiac cath images, cine loops and complete studies and review echo studies in the OR. Radiologists use a two monitor configuration that pairs a 21-inch, grayscale 3MP flatpanel for review of most images with a 20inch color system for HIS, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and 3D applications. Other IT infrastructure includes a gigabit network backbone with gigabit switches for radiology modalities and cardiovascular systems. One of the most powerful benefits of the approach, says Self, is that a hospital can realize cost-savings almost immediately after deployment. enterprise-lite The operative word in Bayhealth Medical Center’s enterprise solution is trim. The Opposite page: Screenshot courtesy of Intelerad. HealthImaging.com February 2008 | Health Imaging & IT 15 http://HealthImaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT - February 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Cover Story: Enterprise Image Management Makes the Grade Modality Update Special Section: Health IT: Image Management Special Section: Health IT: PCs on the Move Convention Spotlight Technology Outlook Technology Update Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - February 2008

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