Blog

All technology eventually becomes obsolete, and the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) at your hospital or imaging center is no exception. The average lifetime of a PACS is between three and five years, but if you ignore the warning signs when your PACS medical imaging solution begins to near its end of life, you might find yourself in the midst of a crisis when data loss or other disasters strike. Keeping backups might help restore the lost images, but unless you fix the problems with the outdated PACS itself, you'll still have an aging system and a database that's getting larger and larger.

What's more, if you somehow lose a patient study, you could be exposing your practice to legal consequences when the patient needs access to the study and finds out about the loss.

So, what are the top five signs that your PACS is getting old, and what exactly can you do about it?

---

If you’ve ever thought of sharing medical images or any other Protected Health Information (PHI) using Dropbox you are not alone. Dropbox is one of the most popular file sharing services and is on millions of desktop computers around the world. Of course HIPAA makes healthcare professionals shake in their boots when they consider whether Dropbox, or any other file sharing system, meets the HIPAA privacy test. But there is way more that you should consider before using file sharing for your medical images.

                CNBC | Jill Fromer

By now we have all heard the results of the Presidential Election here in the United States. People around the world have many questions surrounding various topics. In the healthcare space, we are already fielding questions such as:

 “What happens if Trump repeals the Affordable Care Act?”

“What will happen to Obamacare?”

“How does Trump’s election impact my practice?”

Without taking political sides, we are here to help you answer these questions as the situation develops and to plan for what will likely occur.

As part of my education when I first entered the medical imaging market, I met with as many physicians as I could to understand how they used medical imaging in their practice. On one occasion, I met with a set of orthopedists just outside of Albany, New York. We were deep in a discussion about features, functions and frustrations, when one of the doctors turned to me and said, “Of course the most important thing about medical imaging is linking it to the rest of the patient health record.”

 

Doctors love their iPads and iPhones. In fact, more than half of the doctors surveyed in a recent Manhattan Research study report using a tablet regularly for professional purposes – especially in point of care situations involving patients. In total, 87% of doctors use a tablet or smart phone in the workplace. This naturally has many physicians asking, “How do I view medical images on my iPad or iPhone?” Well, the short answer is, "with a cloud PACS."