Thursday, November 7, 2013

Future looks bright for PACS and Systems Administrators

Janet Skinner, CEO
With all of the challenges to PACS and Systems Administrators posed by healthcare reform, PARCA eNews checked in the Janet Skinner, owner and CEO of Skinner and Associates Executive Search, Inc. to get a snapshot of the career prospects for PACS and Systems Administrators. Skinner and Associates specializes in nationwide recruiting for healthcare imaging, IT and informatics. For this interview, Skinner says she looked at recent job descriptions, and surveyed some recent recruits and her team of five recruiters to broaden her perspective.

Q. With healthcare reform and the other changes occurring in healthcare what do the prospects look like for PACS administrators and systems administrators over the next five to seven years?

PACS News Roundup


OCT. 29, 2013 – MOLECULARIMAGING – With the emerging research on traumatic brain injury (TBI) related to professional sports, there is renewed interest in developing better imaging techniques for diagnosing and treating these injuries. A group of researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va., are using PET to trace neutrophils as they go on the defensive in response to trauma to the brain.


OCT. 25, 2013 – DIAGNOSTICIMAGING – Given the debacle of the Healthcare Exchanges roll-out this past month, many experts are concerned that an even bigger challenge may be looming around the corner. With less than a year remaining to implementation, there are many unanswered questions about the level of preparation among providers and payers that haven’t fully embraced what must be done to be ready for ICD-10. No one knows whether payers will be ready to process ICD-10 claims when the system goes live on Oct. 1, 2014. Most payers, including Medicare, haven’t completed a dry-run to ensure they’re able to meet ICD-10 requirements. 


OCT. 18, 2013 – AUNT MINNIE – Radiologists should be particularly cautious regarding devices with high-reflectivity display characteristics that increase glare in all ambient lighting conditions, according to the group, who shared their findings in an article published online Oct. 10 in the Journal of Digital Imaging.


OCT. 17, 2013 – DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING – Between 2013 and 2018, the report predicted a 5.2 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). Enterprise PACS are expected to experience more significant growth, soaring to $510 million by 2018. Significant growth is also expected for VNAs – a rise from $165.3 million in 2013 to $335.4 million in 2018. 


SEPT. 24, 2013 – DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING – Looking at the function of the apps rather than the platform, the FDA will focus on apps intended to be used “as an accessory to a regulated medical device,” such as accessing a PACS server on a tablet to make a specific diagnosis. They’ll also regulate apps that transform a mobile platform into a regulated medical device, such as an app that helps a device function as an electrocardiography (ECG) machine, helping to diagnose heart attacks or abnormal heart rhythms. 


Pair of studies show missed mammograms increase risk of late-stage diagnosis

A pair of studies of mammography utilization show that women who missed mammograms tended to be diagnosed at a later stage. In a single institution study in the Nov. 2013 American Journal of Roentgenology researchers found that, regardless of age, women who underwent mammography were more likely to have early-stage breast cancer at diagnosis than were those who did not undergo mammography. In a failure analysis study of 7,301 breast cancer patients in the Sept. 9, 2013 Cancer, Harvard researchers found that among the 609 breast cancer deaths, 65 percent had never had a mammogram.


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