The 25-bed Redington-Fairview General Hospital (RFGH) in Skowhegan, Maine, may be small, but it is absolutely essential to the health of its community.

For some healthcare providers, a RIS is simply nice to have. But for large, multispecialty practices with an imaging component, it is an imperative. Changes effected by such technology at The Austin Diagnostic Clinic (ADC), Texas, are proof positive that a best-of-breed RIS can make a big difference on many levels, operational and otherwise.

Every regular conference-goer is familiar with that drinking-from-a-firehouse sensation in the heat of the event, and the recent SIIM meeting did not disappoint in that respect.

Mobile computing—via smart phones, tablets and, increasingly, wearable devices like smart watches—is increasing exponentially.

In recent years, constituents across many industries have strongly embraced a cloud-based infrastructure to achieve data ubiquity. Healthcare is not one of these segments, but there are exceptions to the rule, among them the 19-hospital Indiana University Health (IU Health) system. 

Vendors Will Engage in Aggressive Price Competition to Win Public Tenders, According to Findings from Decision Resources Group BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources Group finds that expansion of the European market for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS) and cardiovascular information systems (CVIS) will be hindered by the debt crisis and radiology cuts in the region. The resulting budget constraints have led to deferred purchases of new and replacement PACS, RIS and CVIS for many countries in 2013, as well as the cancellation of a significant number of public tenders for these systems, particularly in the more severely affected markets in Italy and Spain.

On January 29, 2014, Michael Peters, senior director of legislative and regulatory affairs, for the ACR®, presented a webinar—Navigating the MU Pathway: Stages 1 and 2—sponsored by FUJIFILM Medical Systems.

The persistent nudge of government policy has undoubtedly pushed the health-care world into modern times. Whether welcome or not, mandates such as meaningful use have made concepts such as patient engagement a priority among RIS/PACS design teams across the country.