2010 April

When it comes time that your PACS desperately needs replacing, the path can take a few turns. Do you stay with the same vendor? Go with another vendor that an affiliated facility uses? Or do you shop around? And since youre again new to the market, what should you expect of a next-generation PACS? Thats the topic of this months cover story.

Traditional operating rooms with imaging systems, high-tech displays and other systems being wheeled in and out is a thing of the past. The recent move towards streamlining ORs has made physicians, architects and device manufacturers rethink the conventional OR and find innovative ways to integrate equipment-especially imaging hardware—into their ORs at the point of care.

The technological advancements of computed radiography and digital radiography have kept them relevant and key to timely, high-quality patient care. Its not an either-or proposition, hospitals must find a way to use them both complementarily to harness the strengths of each to improve patient care.

Cloud computing technology—a market that Merrill Lynch values at $95 billion over the next five years—has recently begun to move  into healthcare. However, questions remain about how facilities and departments, including radiology, will fully take advantage of these zero footprint solutions.