FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Unique PACS Installation Answers Problems for Smaller Hospitals and Clinics
CYPRESS, TEXAS (PRWEB) – In November of 2007, Miner Miracles LTD designed and implemented a unique installation specifically tailored to the needs of smaller hospitals and clinics in rural and medically underserved areas. The advantages produced by this type of implementation can be replicated to answer many of the problems faced by these medical providers.
In modern radiology, picture archival and communication systems (PACS) are used to capture, archive, transmit and display radiology studies from modalities such as X-Ray, MRI, CT, ultrasound and nuclear medicine. These studies form the backbone of the interpretation produced by radiologists who are often located at remote sites.
PACS LIABILITY
While PACS systems reduce costs and open options for modern radiology, they also introduce the potential for significant liability.
· Treatment delays as a result of equipment failure can be a dangerous source of liability. A catastrophic failure in the PACS system can prevent any diagnostic studies from being performed over an extended time period. When the facility converts completely to digital radiology, there is no place to send studies if the PACS system fails. This can impact treatment for inpatient and emergency patients, often forcing them to be transported to other facilities and delaying any treatment they may receive.
· A catastrophic failure in a PACS system can also mean the permanent loss of important medical studies for patients. Under HIPAA regulations, the medical facility generating radiology studies is responsible for safely archiving studies. Any inherent weakness in data backup for disaster recovery can prevent this data from being restored and leave the facility in a position of legal liability.
· Inadequate quality control in indexing database fields can orphan study records, making it difficult or impossible to retrieve these studies when they need to be displayed. As the radiologist interprets studies, he is also presented with a list of all prior studies performed for a specific patient. Past studies may cause the radiologist to focus on different areas and could result in a different interpretation. If past studies are not available, the interpretation and resulting diagnosis may be incomplete. This liability falls squarely on quality control procedures used to operate the PACS system.
CHALLENGES IN RURAL LOCATIONS
Michael Miner is the VP, Operations for Miner Miracles LTD. “We supply contract IT maintenance and IT management for rural hospitals. This allows us to understand their special needs.
Rural hospitals and clinics are challenged to provide the same high quality healthcare in spite of a unique set of obstacles. Everything is more expensive, from gasoline to groceries to office supplies to Internet bandwidth. On the other hand, qualified personnel are more difficult to find. Suppliers who guarantee 4-hour on-site service often show up two days after the first call.
These facilities are challenged to do more with less. For technical applications, this usually translates to limited Internet connections, limited staffing and reduced budgets.
Our challenge has been to provide technology that works reliably within these environments."
A UNIQUE PACS SOLUTION
The PACS solution that best addresses these unique requirements is only slightly more expensive than the lowest cost option. Here, PACS technology is applied with two identical PACS systems, one on-site at the rural location and another located on an Internet backbone in a major city where Internet bandwidth is less expensive.
Any change on either system is immediately mirrored on the other system using the available Internet connection to the rural facility.
With identical data found on two separate PACS systems, there is no need to rely on tape backups to provide disaster recovery in the event catastrophic failure. The remote system provides not only the required data backup but also satisfies HIPAA requirements for off-site storage of backup data. This is all done without operator involvement and is fully automatic.
This topology also provides a failover option in the event of catastrophic failure of one of the systems. If the local PACS system at the hospital fails, for example, local modalities can send directly to the remote system and work continues as before. If the remote system fails, Internet access is provided for the local system and remote users, such as radiologists or referring physicians, simply access the local system and work again continues as normal. The failed system can be repaired within a reasonable time period with minimal interruption to normal workflow.
Another major challenge to PACS operation is the correct population of database fields, otherwise known as DICOM header fields. In sending studies, many modalities either leave critical fields blank or provide incorrect data. To improve accuracy, it is possible to use scripting to correctly populate these fields and avoid orphaned studies. Before studies are available for the radiologist, a final QA step is implemented where the technologist reviews all the necessary database fields and makes any corrections.
The result is a PACS installation proven to operate reliably for smaller clinics and hospitals in rural environments.
Additional information can be found at http://www.minermiraclesltd.com.
ABOUT MINER MIRACLES LTD
MML supplies turnkey digital diagnostic imaging management: teleradiology, RIS/PACS, RIS/PACS + Billing, digitizers, diagnostic workstations, and more. The company also manages the largest teleradiology network of its kind, the Lone Star VPACS™ Teleradiology Network, providing network monitoring, maintenance and 24/7 help desk operations to hospitals, clinics and imaging centers.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Ms. Deborah Miner
Miner Miracles LTD
281.304.7770 Tel