June 13, 2012 —Siemens Healthcare demonstrated how image and information management solutions help customers lower healthcare costs, while improving the level of service offered to other providers and patients. These solutions were on display at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) 2012 annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., from June 7-10.
Siemens demonstrated significant updates to the syngo Workflow radiology information system (RIS) as well as syngo.via for advanced visualization, syngo.plaza picture archiving and communications system (PACS) and syngo Dynamics cardiovascular imaging and information system (CVIS). Siemens recently announced the availability of the syngo Workflow Cloud Solution. This private cloud deployment option can help healthcare providers reduce the ongoing capital expenditure of maintaining on-site hardware for syngo Workflow.
Siemens also demonstrated mobile options for the imaging IT portfolio on a selection of mobile tablets and devices. Bringing clinical users advanced functionality and new approaches to optimize the total cost of ownership are key objectives of Agenda 2013, a two-year global initiative to further strengthen the healthcare sector’s innovative solutions.
Siemens can now host the syngo Workflow RIS from its private medical-grade Healthcare Computing Center to help customers better predict costs and reduce capital expenditures. As such, the private cloud solution for syngo Workflow provides a more predictable cost environment, particularly for hospitals already hosting other elements of their health IT in the cloud.
In addition to the private cloud deployment option, the latest version of syngo Workflow features a new technologist portal along with enhancements to syngo Portal Radiologist and syngo Voice. The radiologist reporting solution in syngo Portal Radiologist now provides advanced academic workflow support with resident workflow and advanced procedure protocoling capabilities. In addition, the new version features improved emergency department and interrupt workflows, along with enhanced worklist filtering and sorting capabilities. With syngo Portal Technologist, the technologist is able to track patients, add, revise and cancel procedures and organize workload through worklists and monitors.
Moreover, with access to valuable patient information, such as allergies, order requisitions, protocols, history and more, the technologist can perform core tasks from one application. syngo Workflow also offers key enhancements to syngo Voice by providing the ability to pre-populate a radiologist’s report with information that has already been captured, such as radiation dose information or ultrasound measurements. Doing so without additional clicks or dictation by the radiologist creates an opportunity for time savings and improved accuracy during report creation.
Siemens also unveiled syngo Workflow Mobile, which delivers RIS capabilities to a variety of mobile devices. Technologists can access syngo Portal Technologist on a mobile tablet, allowing them to sign off on their radiology reports with just a few clicks and have the same type of access to their reports as they would to their emails.
Enhancements to Siemens advanced visualization, agile PACS and CVIS
Also at SIIM, Siemens showcased its syngo.via (VA11) advanced visualization software, providing support for increased reading efficiency to assist with reducing turnaround time and lowering costs. The latest offering expands the number of clinical applications and provides broader multi-modality support across radiology, nuclear medicine, surgery, oncology and cardiology environments. In addition, syngo.via provides workflows that can be tailored to numerous medical indications by integrating disease-specific applications. Each application provides case preparation, structured case navigation and disease orientation.
Siemens also spotlighted the syngo.plaza PACS for clinical routine, offering 2-D, 3-D and 4-D reading in one place. With more than 200 installations already in clinical production worldwide, the new version (VA20D) of syngo.plaza features increased loading performance and support of central application management to reduce complexity and costs. Through case-specific reading and a wide application range, syngo.plaza supports users in efficiently reading complex multimodality cases. It allows a smooth transition between different applications and helps speed the reading workflow.
Siemens also recently announced a syngoDynamics Mobile solution that allows cardiovascular imaging specialists to extend access to image and report review beyond the workstation to mobile devices such as the Apple iPad and iPhone. The syngoDynamics Mobile easy-to-use login and study list enables users to easily navigate through images and reports.
For more information: www.siemens.com/healthcare
