Picture Archiving and Communication System, PACS, is an imaging technology used in healthcare to digitally store and transmit clinical photographs and reports. Thanks to PACS, you do not have to file, retrieve, and send significant information manually. Instead, medical images and documents are housed securely on off-site servers and can be accessed from anywhere. PACS acquired widespread recognition since the volume of online medical images has grown greatly, and data analytics of such images have become prevalent.
Who Can Use PACS?
While radiologists predominantly use PACS software – radiology conventionally being the top-notch producer of X-ray images, the technology is also incorporated into several other departments like cardiology, oncology, nuclear medicine, dermatology, and pathology.
Medical images are extracted and evaluated as an integral part of a patient’s overall care plan. The data collected can bring forth all types of physiological and anatomical abnormalities. It outlines the progress of the treatment and offers doctors a catalog of scans they can later refer to.
Easy access to the best medical images, reports, and health history can enhance care, decrease the possibility of prescription and treatment errors, and stop redundant testing. Digital access even improves safety and saves the patient and the facility money and time.
PACS Development
Almost all well-established medical equipment manufacturers and IT organizations in the healthcare industry provide PACS. As mentioned at the very outset of this article, the system can store, retrieve, display, and share photographs produced by a plethora of medical hardware modes, like MRI or magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray, ultrasound machines, and CT or computed tomography scans.
The contemporary applications of PACS are attributed to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine, DICOM. You must adhere to DICOM when managing and transmitting medical images and associated data. The NEMA, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, ACR, or American College of Radiology, developed DICOM. NEMA and ACR decided to form a committee in 1984 to create medical imaging standards and streamline the growth of PACS.
PACS Architecture
PACS has four components – hardware image machinery, a dedicated network for exchanging and distributing patient images, a mobile device or workstation for monitoring, processing, and interpreting images, and electronic archives for storing and recovering images and other documentation.
The uses of PACS include –
- PACS can eliminate the need for having and managing hard copies of images and physical archives.
- PACS ensures remote access. It enables clinicians all across the globe to analyze the same information simultaneously.
- PACS provides a digitized platform for photographs interfacing with various medical automation solutions like electronic health records, radiology information system, and hospital information systems.
- Finally, yet importantly, PACS lets radiologists and other personnel seamlessly manage the strategy lying behind patient examinations.
How is PACS Integrated with Other Technologies?
PACS procedures have been in the medical industry for quite some time. However, vendor-neutral archive technology, or VNA, is now an alternative to PACS in various healthcare settings. VNA can even successfully integrate with PACS.
PACS vendors implement many syntaxes inside DICOM. So the data from one system cannot function in another. VNAs allow data integration by deconstructing the data from a PACS and then shifting it to a new system.
DICOM lets imaging technologies transfer data to healthcare systems. VNA and PACS can manage image orders, archives, billing, and record-keeping.
Six Things to Consider When Purchasing PACS
If you have a private practice that relies on imaging technology, you may be confused by the number of PACS offerings in the market. As already stated, PACS can benefit the medical sector to a great extent. Determining what type of PACS you need can be a challenging task. When shopping, please keep in mind the below factors.
Affordability
When evaluating the cost of teleradiology PACS, remember that you must take care of much more than the upfront fees a vendor charges. Every prospect should consider the entire cost of ownership to measure affordability. This includes –
- Upfront cost
- Maintenance fees
- The money required for upgrades
- The money required for backups
- The money required to sustain internal IT professionals
- The money is required to replace PACS if the technology becomes obsolete down the road.
In case you are seeing red flags and big dollars, don’t worry. You can find an affordable system, even if the practice is small.
Accessibility
If your practice has several locations, it must be able to access medical images stored on PACS from any location. When every location has PACS, sharing resources or finding where a patient was last admitted becomes hard. This is where cloud-based solutions become fascinating. Regardless of your location, you can transmit images to Cloud and access them anywhere.
If your practice only has one location, you can benefit from having mobile access to medical images during emergencies. Incorporating mobile flexibility improves performance and decreases stress.
The most important feature you would want in a PACS is the capacity to perceive images conveniently so you can diagnose images without any hassle. Many PACS has a viewer, while a few lets you select what is correct.
Compatibility
DICOM is used to view, transfer, and store images via PACS. But not all vendors adhere to this standard. Some add enhancements appear aesthetic but do not let you see images on any other system. Instead, store the images in a way that is compatible with DICOM. This way, you can share the images with other healthcare experts.
Storage
When buying a PACS, ensure it provides enough storage for imaging requirements. Storage needs will increase over time, so you must be able to elevate your storage along with business growth.
Backup Plan
If a man-made or natural disaster destroyed your practice, what should happen to the images you stored? A reliable and efficient PACS backs up images regularly, keeps data loss at bay, and allows your practice to start operating again.
Sharing
If the medical images reveal a serious disorder in a patient, you have to refer them to a specialist. You have to share all the images generated by imaging technology. PACS lets you share images quite easily. Do not depend on CD burning. Look for a PACS that can simplify your and your employees’ jobs.
Bottom Line
The medical sector is continuously evolving. Therefore, you must invest in PACS. It provides you with agility and flexibility, thus helping you offer high-quality care. Cost is a factor to consider, but think of all the benefits you can relish. Conduct thorough research so you can find a PACS suitable for you. The system must have substantial storage, sharing accessibility, infrastructure compatibility, and a trustworthy backup plan.
