When Medical Imaging LLC (Tupelo, Mississippi) needed to replace the MRI systems in two of its imaging centers, the practice faced an increasingly common challenge: Although both of the centers needed new equipment, the practice couldn’t afford to purchase two advanced imaging systems at the same time. “We need to conserve capital,” Lee Frans, executive director of the practice, explains. “As we wait to see how the health-care environment pans out over the next few years, we need to be cautious.”

On October 1, 36 states launched new health-insurance exchanges, beginning the influx of new patient volume for which the health-care community has been preparing itself since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For radiologists, who have been trying to redefine themselves in the eyes of patients for several years now, these new customers represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, according to Harry Purcell, operations manager for Zotec Partners. “Radiologists have the chance to reinvent their image as more high-touch and integrated,” he says. “It will be key for forward-thinking groups to start making changes now.”

Mention the term “workflow” and a common response is a roll of the eyes. That’s because the medical imaging facilities that have not yet achieved optimal workflow are experiencing extreme frustration while the facilities that have constructed reliable, systematic workflow are always looking for more.

Over the past five years, leaders on both the clinical and business sides of radiology have learned the hard way that adaptability and flexibility are prized qualities required for survival.

Over the past five years, medical imaging enterprises have learned the hard way that adaptability and flexibility are prized qualities required for survival. They have weathered reimbursement cuts, increased scrutiny and the general feeling that they are ceding control of their businesses to outside agencies with agendas and motivations far different than theirs. What was once a smooth operation providing key medical information is now a daily battle to maintain viability.

Sharp HealthCare (San Diego, California) has undertaken multiple initiatives aimed at implementing organizational and service improvements, as well as enhanced patient care and clinical outcomes. Its latest endeavor is the imminent addition of a PACS that will accommodate non–DICOM images and that, as such, will facilitate enterprise image sharing across specialties, modalities, and facilities (as well as with clinical entities outside its boundaries).

For the vendor-neutral archive (VNA), James M. Conyers says, making the A stand for archive no longer adequately describes the technology’s true capabilities. Conyers, national director of Enterprise Architecture Solutions for FUJIFILM Medical Systems, explains, “It’s more of an architecture than an archive. An archive is just one component of what the VNA actually does.”

Purchase a vendor-neutral archive (VNA). Design it to store DICOM and non–DICOM images. Integrate it seamlessly with electronic medical record (EMR) system. Watch its users visually enrich their patients’ medical records.