Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Has the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 really been all that bad for radiology? The always opinionated -- and occasionally controversial -- PACS consultant Michael J. Cannavo tackles that topic in an editorial this week in our PACS Digital Community.
Mr. Cannavo's editorial is a case study of a real-life facility that installed PACS at about the time that the DRA was implemented. An analysis of the hospital's finances found that while revenues from some modalities dropped -- in particular CT -- that of several others actually stayed the same or increased.
Mr. Cannavo's point is that PACS enables facilities to better weather turbulence like that caused by the DRA. Do you agree or disagree? Take a look at the article, and let us know what you think by posting a message in our PACS Forum.
Dealing with CD imports
In other news in the community, staff writer Erik L. Ridley addresses a thorny problem in medical imaging -- getting images from CDs carried by patients into your PACS network.
External CDs can cause both workflow and technical problems, and could even contain incorrect patient images or reports. Fortunately, recent developments in the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise project on developing document-sharing protocols could help alleviate this problem.
Read the article by clicking here, or visit the community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
