Web-based image distribution provider Amicas has broadened the scope of its Amicas.net product line, thanks to the addition of image archiving capabilities and a new viewer designed for radiology departments.
"Amicas.net has traditionally been an ancillary system to PACS, providing Web-based image distribution," said Barry Gutwillig, vice president of business development. "But with release 2.4, we now have an entry into the PACS market. Amicas has always focused on the enterprise, but now we’re also having a more focused effort on radiology."
As part of this initiative, Newton, MA-based Amicas has added a new viewing option, thanks to its relationship with medical imaging workstation provider eFilm Medical of Toronto. eFilm’s workstation software offers image display and manipulation tools designed for radiologists, while Amicas’ traditional Web viewer is geared towards referring physicians, Gutwillig said. Amicas will also continue to integrate Amicas.net with other DICOM-compatible workstations, if customers desire.
Archiving has been added through network-attached RAID storage (NAS) technology, offering what the firm calls "forever priors" capability. With forever priors, images are stored on RAID after undergoing lossy wavelet compression, enabling speedy access to all prior imaging studies, Gutwillig said.
"With our Web architecture, we’re able to store prior studies online forever on RAID while preserving the original DICOM image data in a cost-effective way on nearline or offline tape-based media," he said.
The viewers and archive all integrate with the Amicas Web server, which remains the core of the Amicas product line, Gutwillig said.
Release 2.4 also enhances Amicas’ systems integration capability, enabling more seamless integration of medical images with electronic medical record (EMR) software, Gutwillig said. EMR vendors can now integrate their software with Amicas.net via standard hyperlinks (to the image location on the Amicas Web server), an Active X control, or Java Beans, he said.
Two recent customers, New York-Presbyterian, the University Hospitals of Columbia and Cornell in New York City; and Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, are planning to embed Amicas.net into their EMR software, Gutwillig said.
Future plans call for Amicas to introduce health monitoring, a feature that will allow users to determine the stage of an imaging study in the diagnostic process. Health monitoring, which will also allow for remote support of the system, will be available as part of release 2.5, scheduled for a mid-year launch, Gutwillig said.
Amicas' more than 65 clients handle, in aggregate, more than three million studies a year, Gutwillig said. In October 2000 the firm received a second round of financing, landing nearly $8 million from six investment partners, including InvestCare Partners, TAIB Bank, and storage firm EMC. A third round of financing is planned for later this year, he said.
By Erik L. RidleyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
February 15, 2001
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