CHICAGO - PACS vendor Agfa has announced several enhancements to its PACS product line at this week’s RSNA meeting.
The Ridgefield Park, NJ-based vendor has added new financing, data storage, and application management options to its Impax product line, thanks to the addition of application service provider (ASP) services.
As part of this new capability, Agfa has unveiled two new storage options. In the first option, Agfa will offer Impax R4 customers an off-site secondary backup archive, which will complement an Impax configuration that includes on-site archiving, according to the company. Pricing would be based on the number and type of exams stored.
In another archiving option, Agfa would manage all storage requirements, either on or off site. In this model the service would be covered by activity-based pricing, based on the number of exams archived per year, according to Agfa.
Agfa is also discussing work-in-progress developments for a centralized version of Impax that would allow hospital groups to tie together resources and clinical workflow of multiple radiology departments. Equipment could be centralized or distributed throughout a facility, according to the vendor.
In other work-in-progress technology, Agfa is developing Web hosting capabilities for Impax. The vendor is also previewing upcoming new Impax software features it believes address the needs of integrated healthcare networks of all sizes. These include greater scaleability and reliability; greater flexibility to exchange information between clinical departments to aid compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; and tools to simplify distribution of information, including tailored Web applications, access to results via e-mail; and access to images via CD-ROM.
Specifically, Agfa plans to enhance reading and review station capabilities with advanced diagnostic techniques such as 3-D visualization tools for radiology; stations for clinical subspecialists with unique workflow requirements, such as orthopedics and cardiology; and continued expansion of review stations for consumers of radiology services (such as enhanced Web viewers). Other planned developments include an integrated information view for the radiology department, easier administration of hanging protocols for the site/user, and digital subtraction.
Agfa also announced it has begun distributing its ADC Quality System family of medical imaging products. The Windows NT-based ADC QS product family provides basic image management functions at an affordable cost, according to the firm. By adding more advanced software packages, Agfa claims that ADC QS allows radiologists and technologists to re-process images in real time, customize user viewing configurations, and manipulate digital images from a remote client viewer. The QS system works with Agfa’s ADC Solo and ADC Compact low-cost computed radiography systems.
Agfa is also releasing PACSWatch 2, a remote system monitoring product for Impax R4 customers. New features on PACSWatch 2 include the ability to create management reports covering PACS network performance and system utilization, as well as trend analysis and threshold monitoring. PACSWatch 2 includes PACSWatch Remote, which offers proactive system and network monitoring with remote paging.
Other available options include enhanced paging, which provides the ability to tailor remote paging to multiple destinations with enhanced scheduling of the pages, according to Agfa. Other options include PACSWatch Monitor, a real-time online graphic display of system performance for the system administrator.
In other developments, Agfa announced that Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has implemented the company’s Impax for Cardiology image management system, first shown as a work-in-progress at the American College of Cardiology meeting. Impax for Cardiology provides hospital-wide access to imaging modalities such as echocardiography, conventional x-ray, CT, MR, cardiac and peripheral angiography, and intravascular ultrasound, according to Agfa.
By Erik L. Ridley
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 28, 2000
The Ridgefield Park, NJ-based vendor has added new financing, data storage, and application management options to its Impax product line, thanks to the addition of application service provider (ASP) services.
As part of this new capability, Agfa has unveiled two new storage options. In the first option, Agfa will offer Impax R4 customers an off-site secondary backup archive, which will complement an Impax configuration that includes on-site archiving, according to the company. Pricing would be based on the number and type of exams stored.
In another archiving option, Agfa would manage all storage requirements, either on or off site. In this model the service would be covered by activity-based pricing, based on the number of exams archived per year, according to Agfa.
Agfa is also discussing work-in-progress developments for a centralized version of Impax that would allow hospital groups to tie together resources and clinical workflow of multiple radiology departments. Equipment could be centralized or distributed throughout a facility, according to the vendor.
In other work-in-progress technology, Agfa is developing Web hosting capabilities for Impax. The vendor is also previewing upcoming new Impax software features it believes address the needs of integrated healthcare networks of all sizes. These include greater scaleability and reliability; greater flexibility to exchange information between clinical departments to aid compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; and tools to simplify distribution of information, including tailored Web applications, access to results via e-mail; and access to images via CD-ROM.
Specifically, Agfa plans to enhance reading and review station capabilities with advanced diagnostic techniques such as 3-D visualization tools for radiology; stations for clinical subspecialists with unique workflow requirements, such as orthopedics and cardiology; and continued expansion of review stations for consumers of radiology services (such as enhanced Web viewers). Other planned developments include an integrated information view for the radiology department, easier administration of hanging protocols for the site/user, and digital subtraction.
Agfa also announced it has begun distributing its ADC Quality System family of medical imaging products. The Windows NT-based ADC QS product family provides basic image management functions at an affordable cost, according to the firm. By adding more advanced software packages, Agfa claims that ADC QS allows radiologists and technologists to re-process images in real time, customize user viewing configurations, and manipulate digital images from a remote client viewer. The QS system works with Agfa’s ADC Solo and ADC Compact low-cost computed radiography systems.
Agfa is also releasing PACSWatch 2, a remote system monitoring product for Impax R4 customers. New features on PACSWatch 2 include the ability to create management reports covering PACS network performance and system utilization, as well as trend analysis and threshold monitoring. PACSWatch 2 includes PACSWatch Remote, which offers proactive system and network monitoring with remote paging.
Other available options include enhanced paging, which provides the ability to tailor remote paging to multiple destinations with enhanced scheduling of the pages, according to Agfa. Other options include PACSWatch Monitor, a real-time online graphic display of system performance for the system administrator.
In other developments, Agfa announced that Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has implemented the company’s Impax for Cardiology image management system, first shown as a work-in-progress at the American College of Cardiology meeting. Impax for Cardiology provides hospital-wide access to imaging modalities such as echocardiography, conventional x-ray, CT, MR, cardiac and peripheral angiography, and intravascular ultrasound, according to Agfa.
By Erik L. Ridley
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 28, 2000
Copyright © 2000 AuntMinnie.com
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