Lone Star Connect

October 1, 2003
Volume 1, Issue 1

Connect Now

Inside Articles

Teleradiology reduces costs and delivers options.
Use digital images to promote your facility.
Distance education reduces CE costs and manpower loss.
Special diagnostic image processing is available now.
You can afford PACS technology today.
The absolute best in email technology.

Highlights
Teleradiology
New Sales Tool
Distance Education
Special Imaging
PACS Technology
Email on Steroids
Services Listing
Contact Us

Lone Star Connect Enterprises, PO Box 617, Ballinger, Texas 76821 USA, (325) 365-2531, email
A service network connecting healthcare facilities

The Service Connect Network

Our Internet connection works just fine. Why should we consider changing to another provider?

Does it really .. Are you sure?

Most people can’t answer these questions. Unless the IT staff invests in monitoring equipment and software and thoroughly tests your internet connection over an extended time, you may not know whether you are receiving the connectivity

you pay for each month.

Join the Service Connect Network and get exactly what you pay for.

When you become a member of Service Connect, your services are guaranteed. They cannot be changed without your prior written consent.

Contrast this with your present service provider.

Do they guarantee your Internet bandwidth (connection capacity) or do they supply whatever they want? Do they decide to charge for services that were free when you first subscribed? Do your service calls go unanswered for days while vital hospital services are compromised?

We think it’s time you know what you will receive before you connect.

By the People … For the People

Who is the Service Connect Network?

People just like you created the Service Connect Network. Hospital administrators, who were frustrated by poor service, less than honest dealings, and the eternal double-speak, formed Lone Star Connect Enterprises (LSCE), the parent company for the network.

LSCE, a 501 3c non-profit organization, manages the daily operations of the network, including

customer relations, help desk operation, equipment and network maintenance, grant operations, and more.

After years with another network, these hospital administrators set out specific goals to deliver better service.

Honesty in all member associations.
Reduce member costs for local IT staff.
Listen to the clients and speak directly to their needs.

Services clearly understood and guaranteed.
Fixed bandwidth (connection capacity).

Focus on services that deliver value and sustain the network.

Growth through efforts to procure sustaining funds from both public and private sectors.

Join the Service Connect Network today. Enjoy the benefits of experience in fulfilling needs exactly like yours.

Teleradiology Delivers Profits and Options

Radiology technologists learn to convert films to digital files to be sent to remote radiologists

“Teleradiology has changed the way we serve our patients and helped us promote our services to local physicians.”

How do you handle your need for radiology coverage?

The lack of qualified radiologists in smaller communities often means lower income for many local hospitals and clinics. Many local doctors hesitate to send their patients to rural hospitals; often opting to have their patients drive to larger towns for diagnostic imaging services. In local emergency rooms, fast interpretation of medical images for critical patients can be a matter of life and death. The lack of staff radiologists forces smaller facilities to stabilize and transport the patient to larger cities, instead of treating them and retaining the revenue locally.

The average age of radiologists is increasing. Studies show that roughly 50% of all radiologists now practicing in Texas will retire within the next five years. The shortage of radiologists in the near future will far exceed the shortage in nursing staff. With all these trends, it is hardly surprising that many hospital administrators in Texas target radiology coverage as their primary concern.

Teleradiology is the science of transmitting digital medical images in a secure environment to remote doctors. Existing film images can be converted using digitizers, sophisticated scanners that produce digital images using the international DICOM format. Many diagnostic systems, such as ultrasound or MRI, can transmit images in DICOM format without modification. Using the Internet, hospitals can answer their radiology coverage needs with doctors hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

For those facilities lucky enough to have on-staff radiology coverage, teleradiology can open options for both the hospital and staff. For late night, weekends and holiday coverage, the ability to receive images over the Internet can mean that the doctor can perform reads from home - no more midnight trips to the hospital for critical patients. Off-hours coverage can also be contracted to remote facilities.

Does your facility find it difficult to provide an attractive benefits package to your radiologists? Consider becoming a teleradiology provider. Your radiologists can generate income for your hospital and your compensation package can be world-class.

The teleradiology system used by the Service Connect Network is second to none. We invite you to discover a new world of possibilities.

Lance Keilers, Administrator for Ballinger Memorial Hospital, shows local doctors how they can see diagnostic images using their office computers.

Digital Images Promote Diagnostic Services

Experts have estimated that roughly 50% of a hospital’s income comes from their radiology department. Diagnostic imaging has become one of the most important factors in promoting a hospital or clinic to local physicians.

Using teleradiology, diagnostic images are already converted to

digital form. With a simple login to the servers at the Service Connect Network, your local physicians can use their own PCs anywhere in the world to access images from their patients.

Offering this service to local physicians opens marketing possibilities, demonstrates a

progressive approach to radiology, and allows the local physicians to show patients their images in digital form.

How much does it cost to courier images? What is your cost for image duplication? How many images are lost or damaged in the process?

Distance Education – The New Continuing Education

The need for continuing education is a constant source of compromise for today’s medical professionals. Fulfilling the need to remain current can often be frustrating in the face of extended work hours.

This need is especially acute for smaller hospitals and clinics. The loss of manpower for training sessions can mean real hardship for a limited staff.

We are all familiar with the course curriculum offered by education providers such as HealthStream or NetLearning. We may not be familiar with the latest in content delivery technology employed by

the Service Connect Network.

The Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a Cisco technology that uses off-peak Internet capacity to push educational programs to your local network. A content engine (server) installed in your server rack stores these programs as streaming video files for the next user.

A user clicks on a web page link to a video training file. Instead of using all your Internet capacity during peak hours, this request is redirected to your local content engine, which delivers the video from local storage.

Now, any computer on your network can be a learning station and many users can take advantage of course material at the same time. CE content is easy to access and available at any time.

The local content engine also provides an active cache for web pages and files, which further reduces demands on your Internet connection.

The Service Connect CDN represents one of the most sophisticated content delivery and management systems in use today.

Are these employees discussing a computer problem, surfing the web, or completing a CE course?

Should there be a difference?

Special Diagnostic Imaging Services

You generate diagnostic images and either digitize them or send them as native DICOM images to teleradiology.

Have you ever wanted to convert a DICOM image or complete study into another format?

With the special image manipulation capability at the Service Connect Network, your images can be enhanced and converted to suit your needs.

All reference to patient

identifiers can be removed from any image. If you wish to retain the image or complete study in the DICOM format, the study can be stripped of all identifiers, otherwise known as “anonymized”. Such DICOM studies can be sent from one imaging system to another without the risk of hanging identifiers that could pose a violation to patient’s rights.

Images can be saved in common formats, such as TIF, JPG, BMP and RAW.

Image series can be converted to separate images or saved as movie files for display in PowerPoint or web pages.

Our image capabilities also extend to image overlays, such as PET images over CT scans.

Special imaging projects are performed on an individual basis with images sent to you on CD ROM or as an Internet download.

We invite your inquiries.

DICOM images can be converted to any common image format or movies for use in presentations, papers, or special documents.

Digital Archival – Now Within Your Reach

See any of your images in the virtual PACS system from any computer connected to the Internet.

The teleradiology system at the Service Connect Network offers more than just secure image transmission, display and reporting.

The Service Connect Network offers virtual PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) technology that can be shared by any of its members.

Now, you can see all relevant studies for a specific patient from any computer connected to the Internet. Download selected images, view them side-by-side, and compare results over time.

Save the costs of film printing, storage and delivery with reliable and secure storage at the network

head end and secure off-site locations.

By sharing the costs between all participating members, PACS digital archival can be very cost-effective, reliable and simple to use.

Email On Steroids

“Not all email systems are created equal.”

There are many things we all take for granted in the year 2003. Email is definitely one of them. But all email systems are not created equal. Some are too complex, some too simple to be useful, some have frequent security problems.

Service Connect Web Mail

With enhanced features and security, the Service Connect Network delivers the best in email today. The US government, NATO, the US Navy, the FBI and Toyota, all use the same system.

Our email system can be used with traditional email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook or Netscape. You will notice no difference when you transition from other email services.

You can use any web browser from any computer connected to the Internet to access your email, compose and send messages, and attach files. The Web Mail component will allow you to access your email from anywhere in the world, any time it is convenient to you.

The best in virus software scans all email before it reaches your computer. While no protection is ever perfect, this offers the highest level of virus protection available from any email software in use today.

Services Listing

The following services are provided as part of the basic subscription fee to the Service Connect Network (SCN):

Circuit Costs: These include local T1 costs to connect to the statewide AT&T backbone (TEX-AN 2000), and AT&T charges for access, router port, and circuit across the state backbone. SCN is a statewide network so all of these fees make up the actual circuit costs.
High Speed Internet Access: Provides reliable broadband Internet access with a guaranteed bandwidth (connection capacity) that cannot be changed without your express written consent.
Email Services: Unlimited email accounts on the SCN email server(s) with virus detection at the email server for email text and attachments.
Web Mail Services: Access your email from any computer connected to the Internet anywhere in the world. Create, edit, send and attach files with virus scan protection.
Web Site Hosting: Subscribers can have their web site hosted on the SCN web servers (limitations apply). In addition, sites without current web sites can utilize an SCN provided template to get their facility information on the Internet. SCN will register your domain for you, but domain registration fees must be paid annually by the facility.
Help Desk Access: You have access to qualified experts who will support your needs with software, network and hardware issues on SCN equipment and applications Monday through Friday 8:30AM –5PM.
Teleradiology Services: Subscribing members have the option to integrate with the SCN teleradiology application. Local installation requirements and added monthly maintenance fees will apply.
Virtual PACS system: Subscribing members have the ability to integrate their teleradiology application with the SCN virtual PACS system. Local installation requirements and added monthly maintenance fees will apply.
Diagnostic Imaging Services: Subscribing members may participate in custom image processing services to convert DICOM images to other formats for secondary document use. Pricing will vary with the required tasks.
Distance Education Services: SCN members may utilize the content distribution network for local display of educational content. Local installation requirements and added monthly maintenance fees will apply.
Medicaid Client Eligibility Information: SCN is applying for access to Texas Department of Human Services’ CEI eligibility server. This service will be available from two computers at hospitals and one at clinics covered by this agreement. Additional computers are a small additional charge.
Network Administration/VPN: Help with networking issues, including network access to organizations providing service to your facility (some limitations due to bandwidth and security concerns). We can provide a Virtual Private Network connection to allow vendors to securely connect to you via the public Internet using the network’s VPN Concentrator.
Remote Network Monitoring: Engineers monitor your network equipment, circuits and router 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. If a problem occurs, they work with network circuit providers and equipment manufacturers to determine the nature of the problem and to see that it gets fixed as quickly as possible.
Security: SCN uses the best available security and meets/exceeds any HIPAA requirements for networking. Independent experts review SCN security on a regular basis.
TSP (Telecommunications Service Priority) Program: SCN is in the process of applying for the federal TSP designation. This designation is for networks that are critical to responding to crises that could cause harm to the population. It is reserved for national defense and public safety networks. Getting this designation will authorize and require circuit providers, to provision and restore services for SCN subscribers before services to facilities without the TSP designation. The benefit is less down time for our subscribers for circuits over which we have little or no control.
Cost Reduction Program: SCN continues to search for ways to minimize or reduce network costs. SCN’s efforts include volume purchases, grants and seeking ways to have others contribute to underwriting network costs.
Subscriber Responsiveness: As a member of SCN, you have someone to call for information regarding technology, Internet, or teleradiology/telemedicine questions and needs.

Lone Star Connect Enterprises
P.O. Box 617, Ballinger, Texas 76821 USA
(325) 365-2531 tel
Email
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