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The benefits of electronic medical records have been documented extensively. Having a complete set of patient information at the point of diagnosis or treatment eliminates the need to re-test, reduces treatment errors and streamlines health care processes. This complete record includes medical images, such as x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, ultrasounds and other diagnostic studies which are essential to helping physicians build a complete picture of the state of a patient's health.

It’s critical for modern veterinary practices to have a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) that allows them to store, share and access medical images. However, the upfront cost of an onsite solution can be as much as $50,000, which is a huge outlay for a small veterinary practice to digest.

With so many picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) on the market, it can be difficult to know which one is best for your veterinary practice. Despite the diverse range of options available, many small practices simply use the rudimentary veterinary PACS offered by their practice management software (PMS) vendor.

If you run a veterinary practice, you are often called upon to be a jack of all trades. If you are like many practices, you might not generate a high enough volume of scans to justify employing a full-time radiologist to analyze the images generated by your medical imaging technology. As a result, you probably do these reads yourself or rely on other generalist veterinarians to conduct the analysis and come up with diagnoses for the beloved family pets you see each day.

More and more, we are seeing health care facilities and medical professionals share imaging studies among referring physicians, specialists and even patients. Surgeons are taking their tablets to view scans in the operating room, diagnosing physicians are asked to evaluate advanced medical imaging such as MRIs or CT scans while on the go or on vacation, and specialists crave an easy and inexpensive way to share images with their patients.