July 18, 2013 — Viztek announced that MedSpring Urgent Care has recently completed installation of the ViZion Straight Arm DR digital X-ray system at its 14th center, which is located in Chicago. Setting the bar for patient-centered care and providing quality care in a walk-in setting, MedSpring now uses the ViZion Straight Arm DR in all of its facilities, including six in the Austin area, five in the Houston area and three in the Chicago area.
The ViZion Straight Arm DR is a compact digital imaging system that is easy to deploy and produces exceptional image quality using a 17- x 17-inch flat panel detector. Its small footprint makes it ideal for the MedSpring Urgent Care Centers in comparison to traditional ceiling suspended or floor mount systems that take precious space and can present installation challenges. The sleek design also benefited MedSpring operations as a number of the 14 urgent care clinics were built around the system, enabling smaller imaging rooms to be constructed. In addition, the cost-effective ViZion Straight Arm DR solution provides ease-of-use for technologists who are now able to quickly and easily position the system around the patient for a variety of exams. Ease of positioning saves time at the point-of-care and assures that patients who come to the urgent care center receive the quality expected at a hospital emergency room but spend much less time waiting.
“We’ve created an environment focused around patient-centered care, and the ViZion DR solution from Viztek supports this model and enables us to tend to every patient, as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said William McKinney, senior vice president, Infrastructure, MedSpring Urgent Care. “Whether they have a broken finger or pneumonia, patients and their families don’t want to sit around and wait for their diagnosis and treatment. The ViZion Straight Arm DR allows us to significantly increase our quality and speed of treatment, often providing a better option to the local hospital emergency department, for non-life threatening medical conditions.”
While patients obviously benefit, the radiology technologists at MedSpring also appreciate the advantages of the advanced digital radiography (DR) technology including the speed of the exam, the ability to reduce the need for retakes, and the limited training that was needed. The Viztek Opal-Acquire workstation software enables communication between facilities. Further, “Opal-to-Opal” communication greatly saves time for technologists and patients during the image interpretation process. At MedSpring, technologists using the Opal-Acquire workstation have the capability to send images to the Atlanta-based reading group that uses the Viztek Opal-RAD picture archive and communication system (PACS). The Opal-to-Opal communication enables image sharing between facilities in as little as 30 seconds versus what could have taken up 7-8 minutes per patient previously.
“We value our long-term relationships with MedSpring and are happy to have spent the past two years supporting their expansion and improved care through the use of the Viztek DR systems,” said Bruce Ashby, vice president of DR, Viztek. “We look forward to supporting MedSpring in their continuing mission to provide patients with an effective care delivery model that rivals that of hospitals’ emergency departments and additionally offers them a more beneficial experience.”
For more information: www.viztek.net
December 03, 2025 
