"The Expanding Integrated Digital Healthcare Enterprise" is the theme of this year's PACS 2005 conference in San Antonio, Texas from March 9-12. The fifth annual PACS conference, which is sponsored by the Department of Radiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, is a four-day event focusing on the numerous topics contingent with transitioning to a soft-copy environment.
   
A nationally recognized faculty will present technical and clinical lectures and representatives from small to large healthcare environments will present case studies of their experiences in implementing and operating in a digital environment. PACS 2005 will feature cardiologists, dentists, orthopedic surgeons, pathologists, and radiologists who will discuss the special requirements, especially workflow, for their clinical specialties that will enhance their productivity and patient care.
   
The four-day conference will feature:

• Four sessions on fundamentals of the digital healthcare enterprise
  
  
• Clinical applications sessions on cardiology, dentistry, electronic health record (EHR), orthopedics, pathology and radiology
  
  
• Four sessions on the Healthcare Enterprise Archive (HEA)
  
  
• Three sessions on re-engineering workflow and implementing PACS
  
  
• Case studies on data migration, implementing PACS and the work day of PACS administrators
  
  
• Interactive panel discussions on the EHR and HEA
  
  
• Over 50 vendors with "hands-on" workstations
  
  
• Conference syllabus and CD containing all lectures, extensive glossary and vendor white papers
  
  
• Conference attendees can qualify for up to 29.5 continuing education credits

At the conclusion of the conference attendees should: have a familiarity of HL7, DICOM and IHE; understand the importance of deploying hardware and software utilizing open standards devoid of proprietary components when implementing healthcare information systems; provide the knowledge and understanding of why an integrated HEA is preferred to isolated islands of stored information; provide an overview of clinical applications so information technology, administrators and other personnel in the HE understand the requirements to implement PACS and the HEA; learn the essential security requirements for the DHE; observe that vendor workstations may look alike, but their functionality and number of integrated applications vary significantly; and learn to maximize the DHE benefits.
   
Medical practitioners, medical imaging department heads and decision-makers, IS/IT staff members, along with hospital CEOs, CFOs and CIOS, will all be attending the fifth annual PACS 2005 conference.
   
For more program information and registration information, visit www.urmc.rochester.edu/pacs2005.