Every year, vendors roll out a plethora of new imaging informatics solutions at RSNA. Here’s your chance to review then and retool!

While imaging’s tools of the trade can typically be described in terms of modalities and footprints, its ultimate aim is the gathering of information—and thanks to the ongoing digital revolution, more data than ever is available at the fingertips of today’s radiologists. Managing data in the analog age was often a thankless task, with lost films and misplaced files the norm.

Carestream Health will be showcasing a new menu of cloud computing services alongside its established RIS and PACS.

Making today’s imaging management possible is an entire array of PACS, RIS, and other high-tech solutions available from both imaging modality and specialty solutions vendors. This year’s RSNA will showcase a plethora of imaging management solutions from the brand new to the updated and enhanced.

Cloud Computing

Carestream Health will be showcasing a new menu of cloud computing services alongside its established RIS and PACS. The enhanced portfolio of Vue for cloud-based services includes PACS, archiving, and collaborative information sharing. A new portal service allows health care facilities to quickly and easily share images and information with any authorized physician. Carestream’s fully featured PACS and vendor-neutral archiving cloud services allow health care providers to achieve affordable and predictable costs while ensuring business continuity and security. The archiving service delivers consolidated data storage and management solutions for any data type, regardless of vendor. The viewer’s support of mobile devices such as Apple iPads and tablet PCs is pending US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, but is available in other countries throughout the world. To learn more, visit Booth #1611.

KJAYA Medical will be unveiling its iShareScan.com, a powerful zero-footprint, cloud-based image sharing solution available at no cost to imaging sites. iShareScan.com enables users to upload images to the KJAYA cloud, where they may be accessed, viewed, and manipulated instantaneously in 2D, 3D, or 4D by authorized physicians utilizing the company’s advanced remote viewer. The uploaded study will remain on the cloud for up to 30 days without a charge or longer for a nominal per study fee. Facilities can also transfer studies from one PACS to another. Images can be viewed on any Web-enabled computer, including the iPad. For more information, visit Booth #2660.

Viewers

NilRead from Claron Technology is a full-featured viewer designed to enable diagnostic reading on any device?tablets, smartphones, laptops, or desktops.

Claron Technology adds to its family of Nil cloud-based exam viewers with NilRead, a full-featured viewer designed to enable diagnostic reading anywhere, anytime, and on any device—tablets, smartphones, laptops, or desktops. It includes support for all modalities, customizable hanging protocols, prior-current comparison, extensive measurements, many advanced visualization features (thin/thick slabs, MIP, volume rendering, PET/CT fusion), secure e-mail bookmarks, and real-time collaboration. The viewer complements the existing viewer, NilShare. The company plans to submit a Class II 510(k) submission for NilRead with the FDA by the end of the year. For more information, visit Booth #7702.

Siemens will showcase its two newest imaging IT solutions—syngo.via and syngo.plaza. The syngo.via enables physicians to effortlessly access state-of-the-art advanced visualization tools across the clinical spectrum. While syngo.via has been designed to integrate with existing PACS and RIS from all major vendors, Siemens’ client-server technology incentivizes clinicians to use the software in conjunction with the syngo.plaza. As the first Siemens PACS where 2D, 3D, and 4D reading are available in one package, the syngo.plaza offers two viewing modes for users: a preconfigured, intuitive interface and a customizable option that allows users to define and use the layouts they prefer. To learn more, visit Booths #442 and 822.

Viztek’s Opal-RAD PACS now has the ability to view images anytime, anywhere on any PC or Apple computer with the company’s new zero-footprint DICOM viewer. With no software download and a full range of features, the new browser provides convenient, flexible image viewing. It boasts an easy-to-use graphic interface, is accessible over any Internet connection, and provides full support for most popular browsers. Opal-RAD PACS also expands support for PET/CT viewing with a full range of features including MPR and rotational MIP, triangulation display, series synchronization, and 3D point location. To learn more, visit Booth #9124.

RIS & PACS

CoActiv will introduce EXAM-RIS v.2.0, an advanced, customizable, Web-based RIS. The system is designed to integrate seamlessly with the company’s EXAM-PACS, and features specialized worklists and automated referring physician communications, and an HL7 interface for billing. The EXAM-RIS provides a radiologist interpretation module, supporting all major third-party dictation, transcription, and voice-to-text systems, while the built-in transcription module delivers a wide range of features, including boilerplate texts and extended macros. Physician reporting can be automated through fax, encrypted e-mail, or secure direct Web access with flexible permissions. For more information, visit Booth #7300.

NovaCardio from Novarad is a fully integrated CPACS image and information system that offers fast and efficient clinical workflow, powerful features, and accessible-from-anywhere viewing and reporting.

FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A. Inc will highlight several new additions and enhancements to its medical informatics portfolio, including Synapse RIS, Synapse Mobility, and Synapse PACS. Visit booth #4009 to learn more.

GE Healthcare’s Centricity RIS/PACS portfolio will feature significant enhancements, including: Centricity Enterprise Archive for the centralized management of images from all departments; Centricity Imaging Analytics Real-time Dashboard to track metrics that can drive improved business productivity; and anytime, anywhere mobile image and report access through Centricity Radiology Mobile Access. To find out more, visit Booths #3265, 3465, and 3335.

Intelerad Medical Systems announces the launch of InteleSuiteTM, a complete and customizable set of RIS/PACS solutions designed to streamline workflow and augment productivity. InteleSuite features a comprehensive portfolio of radiology information and medical imaging components. Highlights include: automated multiexam scheduling, patient registration, InteleViewerTM and worklist, dictation or embedded voice recognition, native advanced MPR, image fusion, mammography BI-RADS reporting and tracking, workflow-integrated peer review, electronic technologist worksheets, HL7 administration tools, business analytics, and more. To learn more, visit Booth #4053.

Merge Healthcare’s Merge RIS v7.0 is designed to meet and support Stage 1 meaningful use criteria. The solution, which is currently a work-in-progress, but expected to be certified prior to RSNA, provides the functionality to meet meaningful use requirements, including: data collection, reporting, patient portal, and ePrescribing. To learn more, visit Booths #6219, #6265.

Sectra’s Web-based RIS is a feature-rich, advanced radiology workflow? solution with a customizable, intuitive user interface. A new EHR Module? provides clinical decision support tools as part of its computerized? physician order entry (CPOE) system that utilizes the ACR Appropriateness ?Criteria®. The CPOE is integrated with the Sectra Referring Physician? Portal. The EHR module also includes a Patient Portal that provides e-mail? result notifications to patients and displays all relevant health care information and history. Sectra RIS EHR Module supports certification criteria to meet Meaningful Use objectives under the ARRA’s EHR Incentive? Program. Sectra RIS also now offers radiologists the flexibility of PACS ?(with any PACS) or RIS-driven reporting workflow through embedded Nuance? PowerScribe® Speech Recognition. For more information, visit Booth #9117.

Data Transfer

ETIAM will feature its v. 3.2 Secure Medical Network (SMN), which supports unified film, CD, and electronic data transfer, and fully integrates imaging information from beyond the enterprise into the existing hospital workflow. Among SMN v. 3.2’s new features is support for bi-directional consultation. It now includes four modes to meet the specific image transfer needs of the health care enterprise, including: traditional CD and film capture, Web upload on the fly from any location, SMN Agent Gateway, and Community Nexus. ETIAM’s comprehensive system provides all users with a universal DICOM viewer. For more information, visit Booth #8208.

Cardiology

McKesson’s Horizon Cardiology is a cardiovascular information system (CVIS) with a single database that includes support for all cardiovascular images, waveforms, and information, including cardiac and peripheral catheterization, hemodynamics monitoring, echocardiography, vascular ultrasound, nuclear cardiology, and ECG managements. This architecture improves the accuracy and efficiency of the cardiology department by eliminating duplicate data entry and supporting parallel workflows. To learn more, visit Booth #211 Lakeside Center.

Novarad will demonstrate its NovaCardio fully integrated CPACS image and information system that offers fast and efficient clinical workflow, powerful features, and accessible-from-anywhere viewing and reporting. NovaCardio includes a single-click workflow, easy-to-set preferences, and auto display of patients’ prior studies to ease image viewing. The workstation is optimized to view large motion-based ultrasound and cineangiographic images at full spatial and temporal resolution. To learn more, visit Booth #7117.

Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc will showcase the next generation of its cardiac CT dose reduction technology—the work-in-progress Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction 3D (AIDR 3D). Compared with conventional scanning, the advanced software lowers the radiation dose to the patient while maintaining image quality. To learn more, visit Booths #8718, #5634.

Workflow Management

McKesson’s Horizon Medical Imaging and McKesson Radiology Manager are designed to improve departmental workflow, communication, and access to patient information. The highly scalable architecture offers a cost-effective solution to facilities requiring a complete storage and information management solution. Among the improvements to its RIS and PACS are workflow solutions—critical results and peer review—designed to help meet regulatory requirements and streamline workflow without affecting productivity; Web-based tools to organize and share images, teaching files, and reference case information; a radiologist productivity tool; and the “report connector” software. To learn more, visit Booth #211 Lakeside Center.

Medcurrent will showcase the newest version of OrderRight™, the leading medical imaging appropriateness decision support solution. Utilized by physicians at point of care, this easy to use software streamlines care delivery and saves money by automating many of the currently manual processes performed by radiology benefit management (RBM) companies. Instead of RBM staff reviewing orders, the CDS system electronically reviews orders and makes comparisons to the system’s rule sets (based on the Appropriateness Criteria from the American College of Radiology). Feedback is immediately provided to the physician to facilitate ordering of the most medically appropriate procedure. For more information, visit Booth #6609.

Merge Healthcare’s iConnect is a suite of image interoperability solutions that improve workflow, reduce care delays, and lower costs by enabling access to any image, anywhere, at any time, on any device. By streamlining access to and sharing of images, Merge iConnect supports an enterprise-wide imaging strategy. iConnect provides access to medical images from any approved Web-enabled device and facilitates the sharing of images between referring centers without the need for additional equipment or software. For more information, visit Booths #6219, #6265.

While imaging’s tools of the trade can typically be described in terms of modalities and footprints, its ultimate aim is the gathering of information—and thanks to the ongoing digital revolution, more data than ever is available at the fingertips of today’s radiologists. Managing data in the analog age was often a thankless task, with lost films and misplaced files the norm.

Making today’s imaging management possible is an entire array of PACS, RIS, and other high-tech solutions available from both imaging modality and specialty solutions vendors. This year’s RSNA will showcase a plethora of imaging management solutions from the brand new to the updated and enhanced.

EMR

Merge’s OrthoEMR v4.0 recently received the federal government’s “meaningful use” stamp of approval. This means that Merge OrthoEMR users can qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Additionally, Merge OrthoEMR has been certified to electronically generate and transmit prescriptions. Designed to replace paper charts, the solution has an eye toward not requiring users to change the way they work. To find out why, visit Booth #6219, #6265.

Qualitative Intelligence

peerVue will debut enhancements to its qualitative intelligence and communications system (QICS), a Web-based platform that transforms existing health care data into qualitative intelligence used to drive an unlimited range of hospital workflows. Among the improvements is the comprehensive auto-prompt feature that proactively provides notification of events and prompts users to action across the full range of radiology workflows. From important exam interpretations to over-read discrepancy follow-up and patient high radiation dose alerts, the feature can be used to instantly notify radiology staff about a wide range of high priority events and to present a path for efficient, effective follow-up. For more information, visit Booth #9150.

Data Storage

SOURCECORP introduces a robust portfolio of managed medical image storage services to meet every health care enterprise need. From backup to business continuity and full primary off-site archiving, the company’s new multitiered, vendor-neutral storage solution provides a full range of options with all the data stored in multiple ultra-secure Tier IV data centers in geographically dispersed locations. SOURCECORP also offers data cleansing, data migration, image sharing, and sophisticated life cycle management that can shift aging data to economical storage media or simply eliminate it according to a site’s retention policy. All data is stored according to the strictest HIPAA and HITECH compliance.

Image informatics tools are only a step away at this year’s RSNA. Chicago awaits!


C.A. Wolski is a contributing writer for Axis Imaging News.