- Pros and Cons of PACS, VNAs for Medical Image Data Storage
- Understanding HIPAA-Compliant Cloud Options for Health IT
Several of these organizations are looking to add additional PACS and VNAs to their medical imaging strategies.
Lee Health is interested in expanding its current imaging solution by adding several specific versions of Synapse for cardiovascular and mobility. Nemours Children’s Health System is interested in improving patient care and clinician workflow by replacing their older PACS.
Hackensack Radiology Group is seeking to expand their imaging capabilities with more usable features by gaining a single user interface and a system with server-side rendering capabilities and remote reading. Anderson Health System is looking to overhaul its medical imaging infrastructure by adding new tools.
Fujifilm also partnered with the American College of Radiology earlier this year to provide the healthcare organization with PAC systems to help educate its students.
“We value our continued partnership with ACR. We believe when radiologists and imaging professionals are actively trained and educated using industry leading technology, they'll set a higher standard for care when practices are applied in the workplace,” said Bill Lacy, Vice President of Medical Informatics at FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc.
“As we approach 10 years of collaboration with ACR, we look forward to our joint expertise forming better-trained healthcare professionals and improving patient outcomes for years to come.”
ACR will be using FUJIFILM’s Synapse PACS version 5 and Synapse 3D to support educational courses so students can have fast access to large data sets.
PACS use digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM)to store and transmit images. DICOM is both a protocol for transmitting images and a file format for storing them. Medical imaging devices communicate with the application server through the DICOM protocol. Clinicians can then locate and view the image they want to see at a workstation in an office or clinic setting.
PACS are typically used by individual departments, such as radiology, cardiology, dental, and pathology, to manage digital images and share data within the department.
“The ACR Education Center is one of the most technologically advanced training facilities in the world for radiologists. We are proud to work with vendors like Fujifilm to enable radiologists in the U.S. and abroad to review hundreds of cases using the latest technology, and use their skills to deliver the highest quality patient care,” said Vinay Sandhir, Senior Director, ACR Education Center.
ACR will be using FUJIFILM PACS technology for abdominal imaging, body and pelvic MR, cardiac MR, emergency radiology, high-resolution CT, and neuroradiology. Synapse PACS will be integrated with ACR’s learning solution ACR Case Engine, so how students access images can be included in their feedback.
Many healthcare providers are looking to replace or upgrade their PACS to improve their enterprise imaging. These organizations require faster server-side technology for large datasets.
“The bigger picture shows that providers now recognize they need a long-term enterprise imaging strategy. It might start with a PACS replacement or a specialty imaging area need,” Lacy said in a statement.
FUJIFILM released Synapse PACS version 5 last year. This version added speed and interactivity features. The PACS system gives users access to large datasets and the ability to interact with the data.
Synapse PACS version 5 includes server-based image rendering and a zero-download viewer with browser flexibility. Its secure server-side technology gives users fast access to large data sets through most web browsers. The ability to access images through a web browser uses less bandwidth so large image files won’t create a bottleneck in the network.
“Highly functional software designed to streamline workflow, along with speed and precision, are what practices and healthcare systems across the country need to collaborate and deliver the best possible patient care,” said Lacy. “Synapse 5 offers a transformational enterprise imaging opportunity for new customers, while providing value to our existing PACS customers.”
By 