Case Studies

Having been in the Sectra PACS fold since 2004, members of the radiology department at six-hospital CoxHealth in Springfield, Mo., didn’t need much convincing to “VNAble” their existing system so it could handle cardiology workflows on top of their own.

Cleveland is yet again blazing new ground in healthcare. This time, myriad health systems are actively collaborating to share images. A first for the U.S., we believe. University Hospitals Health System (UH) is leading the charge that now includes more than two dozen hospitals, providers sites and health systems and counting. Here’s how they did it.

When the American College of Radiology (ACR) opened the ACR Education Center in Reston, Virginia, back in 2008, it was with a very specific goal in mind—to provide radiologists with thorough, hands-on training they can then take home and use in their daily practice.

A little more than a year ago, I left my full partnership position at a successful radiology practice for a teleradiology job with vRad, a MEDNAX company. I was a bit nervous making such a life-changing decision, but I knew I needed a change. Partnership had been a life goal since med school, but now I had different priorities. I had kids, new interests. Making the move allowed me to focus more on me and my family while still doing the work that I love.

If a mad scientist were to meld the mind of a passionate teaching radiologist with that of an especially acquisitive museum curator, the result would surely be someone very much like Benjamin W. Strong, MD.

When Merritt Hawkins published its 2018 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives, it contained some exciting news for radiologists: after a rough few years earlier this decade, the radiology job market has climbed back with a vengeance.

When UC San Diego Health introduced its expanded Comprehensive Breast Health Center this spring, Haydee Ojeda-Fournier, MD, medical director of breast imaging, got right to the point for the press covering the development. She emphasized that the informal reopening had doubled the capacity of an existing program and that the center now houses an integrated suite of numerous advanced-imaging technologies all under one roof.

With PACS as with any healthcare-specific technology, some universal expectations are common to all end-users and their IT support teams. Yet there are also as many unique sets of preferences as there are PACS stakeholders.

The past several years have seen the development of a de facto stealth campaign against screening mammography. “Vast Study Casts Doubts on Value of Mammograms,” the New York Times bullhorned in 2014. “Why Getting a Mammogram May Cause More Trouble Than It’s Worth,” a Prevention headline blared in 2016. “It’s Time to End Mammograms, Some Experts Say,” trumpeted Time this past December. All of this is fueled, of course, by the never-ending disputes over guidelines issued by numerous authoritative groups.

In a California emergency room, a trauma patient in critical condition is wheeled in following a motorcycle accident. In Texas, a patient presenting with stroke-like symptoms is brought into the hospital by frantic family members.

To meet the latest guidelines on promptness from the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA), providers must image suspected stroke patients within 20 minutes of their arrival. For a brain deprived of oxygen by a blood clot, every second counts.

Medical historians may one day look back on 2018 as the year having a stroke stopped bringing an inescapably bleak prognosis to victims who went a while before noticing the symptoms.