With the single database system for RIS/PACS, imaging report turnaround times have improved at all Desert Radiologists clinics. As a part of the storage overhaul, all prior studies were loaded on the new PACS, making the work process for radiologists much more efficient.
Desert Radiologists is a high-efficiency practice in Las Vegas, Nev., that performs 1.25 million exams per year with a staff of 45 radiologists. Yet the practice operated with an outdated and overloaded picture archiving and communications system (PACS) that had no common worklist, no flexibility and could no longer handle its daily imaging volume.
Additionally, as Desert Radiologists’ imaging volume continued to increase, its existing storage solution could not keep up. That system was a vendor-neutral archive with on-site SAN/NAS units. However, sending data to the vendor-neutral archive created two PACS and increased the complexity of managing and purging the data.
An IT committee, chaired by Whitney B. Edmister, M.D., Ph.D., was formed to look for an integrated RIS/PACS solution that could handle Desert Radiologists’ volume from multiple hospitals and imaging centers.
“The hospitals we service often implement their own systems,” explains Dr. Edmister. “So our biggest expense was always adding a new radiologist. We knew with our own technology we could implement a workflow that would be efficient for our radiologists, increase radiologist reading volume and make a huge difference to our bottom line.”
The IT committee also began looking at the cost of purchasing two large DICOM archives at two geographically separate data centers. Initial capital outlay would have been close to $1 million, and Desert Radiologists would have had to maintain the hardware, software and bandwidth.
New RIS/PACS is the Solution
In addition to Dr. Edmister, the steering committee included two other radiologists, senior management executives and the information services director. After a full RFP, the Desert Radiologists’ committee chose McKesson to provide a comprehensive solution for all of its medical imaging needs. The committee was impressed by the cost and the system’s high availability and ease of maintenance.
“We knew growth was coming as we continued to partner with hospitals and clinics around the city to provide professional readings,” states Mike Reardon, information services director. “And as the exclusive radiology provider to Las Vegas’ only trauma center, we needed to ensure quick imaging turnaround time in critical situations.”
By putting all of its hospitals and imaging centers on a common worklist in the PACS, the practice can distribute its large image volume so all radiologists are productive, reading any case from any location and providing final signed reports 24 hours a day.
“This is a very robust, well-engineered RIS/PACS system,” says Dr. Edmister. “It is scalable from a small hospital or imaging center to a large complex multi-specialty practice. Our radiologists really like working on it. Since the interface is intuitive, it was quick to learn and made for an easy transition.”
Desert Radiologists’ storage solution challenges were also solved with a combination of hosted and off-site storage, meeting today’s more stringent security regulations with no capital outlay and yet still providing a cost savings. In a matter of two months, 20 terabytes of data was transitioned from the old PACS system. All prior studies were loaded on the new PACS, making the work process for radiologists much more efficient.
“By outsourcing our deep archive, we converted a large fixed cost into a monthly expense,” explains Dr. Edmister. “The new hosted storage solution, leveraging Iron Mountain, saves us money and frees up IT resources for other projects.”
Growth is no longer a worry for Reardon. “As our business continues to grow, I don’t need to worry about architecture because it’s taken care of now. The single platform and service meet our needs for cost, footprint, management and availability. We also have peace of mind that our medical imaging data is safe and secure.”
Improved Results
With today’s regulatory bodies expecting more stringent data security, Desert Radiologists has a safe storage solution with the capacity to retain as much data as necessary to be compliant.
The medical imaging solution has also given Desert Radiologists a competitive advantage. “As medical reimbursement rates continue to drop, it’s important to know our upfront costs,” Reardon notes. “Our storage solution minimizes many costs that would otherwise translate to our patients.”
With the single database system for RIS/PACS, Desert Radiologists has reduced report turnaround time for most facilities to less than 10 minutes, which is bringing more business to the practice.
“We have increased our volume, reduced our turnaround time and improved patient care by providing physicians with the information they need to make decisions for their patients,” summarizes Dr. Edmister. “We also have 0% lost reports, 100% billing of the exams we read and virtually no unscheduled downtime.”
Case study supplied by McKesson
April 11, 2024 
