A radiologist’s wish list for 2016

Eric Postal, MD

With all the changes occurring in the PACS administrator’s environment this past year, PARCA eNews decided to take a lighter approach to the final Q&A of 2015. We thought we’d talk to Eric Postal, MD, a practicing radiologist, to see what may be on his wish list for 2016. Dr. Postal is a board-certified radiologist at Virtual Radiologic (vRad), based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. vRad is a leading national teleradiology services and telemedicine company with over 350 U.S. board-certified and eligible physicians, 75 percent of whom are subspecialty trained. vRad interprets and processes patient imaging studies on the world’s largest and most advanced teleradiology PACS for more than 2,100 client hospital, health system and radiology group facilities in all 50 states. Dr. Postal has more than 15 years of experience in academic, hospital and private practice settings. He writes a blog from a radiologist’s perspective for DiagnosticImaging.com.

Resources for PACS adminstrators

From ARIs to Zoom, the PACS world is full of acronyms and even veteran professionals sometimes get lost in the alphabet soup. If you’ve ever had to pause to figure out what some all caps word stands for, there is a great resource online, just a click away. OTpedia is a great resource from OTech for anyone working in the PACS/IT world. The online resource is an exhaustive dictionary of acronyms for PACS and Healthcare IT professionals. It is fast, easy to use, and best of all, it is free. 

Click here to register.

News Roundup

RSNA 2015 101st annual meeting celebrates the future of radiology  

PARCA eNews – Dec. 4, 2015 – The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) wrapped up its year-long Centennial celebration at its 101st Annual Meeting and Scientific Assembly Dec. 4, held at McCormick Place, Chicago with a glimpse of radiology's future on exhibit in the popular RSNA Centennial Showcase.

HealthMyne Adds Epic EHR Data to Imaging Analytics Platform

Created by: Steven Davis-Art Director, HealthMyne

PARCA eNEWS – Nov. 17, 2015 – HealthMyne, an imaging informatics company, announced a major advance in their quantitative imaging analytics platform. Working together with Epic and University of Wisconsin Health, HealthMyne now offers radiologists unification of electronic health record (EHR) data and imaging information. 

HHS issues final rule for Health IT Certification

PARCA eNews – Oct. 6, 2015 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today released final rules that simplify requirements. The new rules add new flexibilities for providers to make electronic health information available when and where it matters most and for health care providers. For consumers the aim of the revised rules are to make patient information readily, safely, through secure information exchange. 

ONC has published 2015 Edition Health IT Test procedures

PARCA eNews – Oct. 6, 2015 – ONC has adopted a new format for test procedures that is less prescriptive and more outcome-focused. ONC released draft test procedures concurrently with the release of the 2015 Edition proposed rule. 

Biomedical imaging at one-thousandth the cost

MIT researchers have developed 

a new biomedical imaging system 

that harnesses an off-the-shelf 

depth sensor such as Microsoft’s 

Kinect.

MIT News Office  – Nov. 23, 2015 – researchers have developed a biomedical imaging system that could ultimately replace a $100,000 piece of a lab equipment with components that cost just hundreds of dollars.

The system uses a technique called fluorescence lifetime imaging, which has applications in DNA sequencing and cancer diagnosis, among other things. So the new work could have implications for both biological research and clinical practice. The MIT researchers reported the new work in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Optica.

DoD Meets Interoperability Requirements for Electronic Health Records

PARCA eNews – Nov. 20, 2015 – The Defense Department has met the interoperability requirements for electronic health records as called for in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, according to DoD officials.

DoD and Veterans Affairs have two goals in integrating patients' records and making the information accessible by both agencies, said Chris Miller, the program executive officer for 

Defense Healthcare Management Systems. Those goals, he said, are to create a seamless health record, and modernize the software that clinicians and analysts in both agencies use.

Maintaining flexible accessibility with PACS-EMR integration

Antonia Wells, Chief Research &
Development Officer

By some estimates over 90 percent of the data in medical science is attributed to imaging. Whatever the actual number may be, it was certainly a factor in IBM’s decision to acquire Merge Healthcare, announced in August. Merge Healthcare is a Chicago-based provider of enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems aimed at advancing healthcare. It was recently recognized as a top vendor in the KLAS 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software & Services report. It provides enterprise and cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties that provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge’s technology platforms are used at more than 7,500 U.S. healthcare sites, as well as most of the world’s leading clinical research institutes and pharmaceutical firms to manage a growing body of medical images. Merge also provides clinical trials software with end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and analytics solutions.  PARCA eNews spoke with Merge’s Antonia (Toni) Wells, Chief Research & Development Officer at Merge Healthcare, Mark Bronkalla, vice president of Solutions Management, and Jim Boritz, VP PACS Development about integrating PACS with EMRs and EHRs.  In the Q&A format below, T. stands for Antonia, M. is Mark and J. is Jim.

PARCA eNews returns to bi-monthly distribution

PARCA has been trialing the monthly distribution of our newsletter. The decision to move to a monthly distribution trial was triggered by survey results indicating a preference for monthly, and by the Board’s desire to improve the engagement with our members, and, in addition, the increase in quality worldly PACS related material. During the last month, the PARCA board has re-assessed our trial and our engagement policy and found that whilst the quality of our content has improved, you, the members have been less likely to review the newsletter. As such, the decision has been made to return to newsletters being produced every two months.

Read more ...

News Roundup

Electronic health record product certifications terminated

PARCA eNews – Sept. 2, 2015 – The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that two electronic health record (EHR) products, previously certified as products that may be used as part of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, had their certifications terminated. 

NCQA launches new eMeasure Certification Program

PARCA eNews –  Sept. 22, 2015 – The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has launched an eMeasure Certification program to certify an organization’s software code that produces electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) results.

Final Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020 Released

PARCA ENews – Sept. 21, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in collaboration with over 35 federal partners, today released the updated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015–2020 (Plan).

Working from home: a growing trend among UK radiologists

Photo from UKRC conference gallery

PARCA eNews – Sept. 16, 2015 – Working from home is growing trend and spurred a spirited debate at the recent 2015 U.K. Radiological Congress (UKRC).

Noting that flexibility of working from home is a major reason many radiologists sign up with teleradiology companies. The questions of supporting a home workstation, security and privacy, not to mention administrative concerns about work hours and intrusions of home and family obligations were passionately discussed in a plenary debate, as reported by Phillip Ward, AuntMinnieEurope.com.

Challenges to rolling out 3D breast tomosynthesis

3D breast tomosynthesis presents significant challenges
for the IT department charged with implementation

Jude Mosley, Sentara manager of IT, manages the PACS system in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia regions for Sentara Healthcare headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. The 127-year non-profit integrated healthcare system with a mission to improve health every day operates 12 hospitals, urgent care centers, advanced and specialty imaging centers, home health, hospice, rehab centers and medical transport services. Sentara is supported by multiple medical groups including 3,800 providers and 30,000 employees. Sentara also offers health plans through its Optima Health insurance covering 455,000 people. Mosley started as a radiology technologist and has practiced as a Rad Tech with every modality including, MRI, CT, mammography, diagnostics, and angiography. She was radiology director for Sentara from 1993 to 2002 when she moved over to IT where she has been managing PACS since 2002. 

AHA survey highlights progress/barriers to interoperability

PARCA eNews – Aug. 15, 2015 – A recent ONC analysis of a nationwide survey of non-federal acute care hospitals conducted by the American Hospital Association (AHA) highlighted the near universal adoption of EHRs by hospitals and significant increases in hospitals’ electronically exchanging health information with outside providers compared to past years.

HHS awards more than $38 million in grants for interoperability

PARCA eNews – Aug. 1, 2015 – The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced 20 awardees for three health information technology (health IT) grant programs totaling about $38 million. The grants are aimed at creating an interoperable learning health system that achieves better care, smarter spending and healthier people.

Survey finds nearly 60 percent of physicians are not ready for ICD-10

In a survey of nearly 1200 physicians conducted by Physicians Practice, an online trade publication for healthcare providers, 59.6 percent described themselves as either “not very close” or “not at all ready” to transition the ICD-10 code set. 

Quest Medical Imaging system approved for imaging tumors during surgery

PARCA eNews – Aug. 27, 2015 – Netherland-based Quest Medical Imaging won FDA approval for its nanoparticle imaging system that highlights tumors during surgery, allowing the surgeon to more clearly see tumor extent.

The system won FDA approval as a “drug-device combination,” as patients are injected with an agent that “lights up” when detected by the camera. The system allows visualization of tumor margins, detection of other tumors or metastases, localization of small malignancies and accurate identification of lymph nodes containing metastatic cancer cells during surgery.

Did incentives boost EHR adoption?

PARCA eNews – Aug. 3, 2015 – A new study has found that adoption of any EHR system may have increased by 7 percent above the level predicted due to the Meaningful Use incentives using one statistical analysis. 

The authors note, however, that the increase disappears under alternative statistical models and show that other factors played a role in the adoption of EHRs. The researchers at the Universities of Alabama, Indiana, and Johns Hopkins published their findings July 30 in the Journal of Medical Informatics Association JAMIA.

NHS announces long-term image management solution

PARCA eNews – Aug. 4, 2015 – City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust selected Agfa Healthcare Enterprise Imaging platform for the storage, exchange and access to medical images through the electronic patient record (EPR). It is the first enterprise-imaging platform to be implemented in the United Kingdom.

Deploying the mobile radiology service

Dr. Marc Kohli

Dr. Marc Kohli is Assistant Professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and Director of Informatics at Indiana University in Indianapolis. The radiology department has 106 faculty radiologists providing services at five sites along with evening teleradiology services. In addition, the program supports 15 residency slots per year with four residency classes and a number of fellows. Dr. Kohli specializes in abdominal imaging, informatics, research and education support. As part of his education function he manages the mobile-device program for the residents. He recently spoke at SIIM 2015 about implementing the mobile device program at IU. In November he will begin a new position as Director of Clinical Informatics in Radiology at the University of California San Francisco.

Q. How are you using mobile devices?

CMA and AMA announce help for ICD-10 deadline

PARCA eNews – July 26, 2015 – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have announced in a press release increased flexibility regarding claims auditing and quality reporting. They have also released links to additional guidance in the announcement that details efforts to help physicians prepare for the Oct. 1, 2015 cut-off.

Here are some highlights from the press release:

Another Roadmap announced: destination patient safety via Health IT

PARCA eNews – July 22, 2015 – The Office of Clinical Quality and Safety today released its Health IT Safety Center Roadmap as another step in the national effort to help reduce possible health IT-related adverse events, or errors. The Roadmap was developed by RTI International, (Research Triangle Institute) a health and technology research institute, and was announced by Andrew Gettinger, M.D. / Chief Medical Information Officer, Acting Director, Office of Clinical Quality and Safety.

UK Radiology conference debates outsourcing

SCoR Chair Pam Black sums up the panel discussion on

radiology outsourcing. (click to view YouTube video)

PARCA eNews – July 1, 2015 – A panel debate at the UK Radiology Conference 2015, over outsourcing radiology reporting highlighted the pressures of economics and workload facing radiologists in the UK. The annual conference of radiologists was held June 29 to July 1 in Liverpool.

The discussion titled: “UKRC: Is outsourcing a silent killer or a savior?” touched off a heated discussion as reported by the Society of Radiographers and Aunt Minnie. 

Aussie study finds iPads ok for on-call radiologists

PARCA eNews – June 17, 2015 – An iPad may be appropriate for interpreting MRI, CT, and radiography studies by on-call radiologists, according to a recent meta-analysis by Australian researchers. 

The research team analyzed data from 11 studies, 10 of which evaluated radiology interpretations on Apple’s iPad and published the analysis in the June issue of the British Journal of Radiology.

They found no statistically significant differences in performance for reading CT, MRI, and radiography studies. The researchers found sensitivity rates ranging from 84 percent to 98 percent, specificity rates of 74 percent to 100 percent, and accuracy rates of 98 percent to 100 percent for diagnosis.

"Our findings suggest that the diagnostic accuracy of radiological interpretation is not compromised by using a tablet computer,” the researchers wrote. “This result is only relevant to the Apple iPad and to the modalities of CT, MRI and plain radiography.” 

Read more …

Herding cats: Implementing a VNA for a regional radiology group

As many PACS administrators tackle implementation of a VNA, PARCA eNews asked Nikki Fennell, Imaging Informatics Manager for Southwest Diagnostic Imaging, in Arizona, to share her experience in implementing a VNA. Southwest Diagnostic Imaging, is a partnership made up of Scottsdale Medical Imaging (SMIL), Valley Radiologists (VRL), and EVDI Medical Imaging. Together SDI is one of the top 25 radiology groups in the US with over 100 board certified radiologists reading 2 million inpatient and outpatient exams each year. Their radiologists provide specialty imaging in neuroradiology, nuclear radiology, pediatric radiology, vascular and interventional radiology at 32 locations throughout the Phoenix, Scottsdale metropolitan areas, as well as providing diagnostic

New Joint Commission imaging requirements in effect

Courtesy: Joint Commission

PARCA eNews – June 30, 2015 – The Joint Commission’s new diagnostic imaging requirements went into effect July 1, 2015, for hospital and ambulatory care programs. The new and revised standards incorporate recommendations from imaging experts, professional associations, and accredited organizations about areas that must be evaluated to ensure the safe delivery of diagnostic imaging services. 

The new requirements address:

• Imaging equipment testing and maintenance
• Annual education for staff supporting CT and MRI services

Delaware joins 23 other states requiring breast density reporting

Image courtesy: ACS

PARCA eNews – June 24, 2015 – Delaware’s breast density reporting bill was signed into law by Governor Jack Markell, joining 23 states that have already passed some sort of density reporting legislation. The law will go into effect in 180 days. 

Ready set Go! Regulatory, economic pressures pose challenges

Copyright: photografier 123RF 

PARCA eNews – June 16, 2015 – The deficit reduction act of 2005, regulatory changes, aging imaging devices and the transition to value-based reimbursement are likely to continue to increase costs and reduce reimbursement for medical imaging groups over the next several years.

The challenges are expected to overwhelm the ability of many freestanding medical imaging practices to survive on the Medicare Physician Fee Service (MPFS) over the next several years and will drive changes in hospital radiology departments.

HHS signals flexibilty for submitting Health IT certification test procedures

PARCA eNews – June 9, 2015 – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a document today detailing the submittal of test procedures and data under the Health IT Certification Program established by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

CMS announces entrepreneurs and innovators to access Medicare data

PARCA eNews – June 2, 2015 – At the recent Health Datapalooza, the acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Andy Slavitt, announced a new policy that for the first time will allow innovators and entrepreneurs to access CMS data, such as Medicare claims. 

NHS survey finds need for CT replacement plans

PARCA eNews – June 25, 2015 – A United Kingdom national survey by the National Health Service Clinical Imaging Board (CIB) shows that around 40 percent of CT scanners in use have no funded replacement plans in place.

The research also revealed that more than 1 in 10 NHS organizations responding to the survey said that their CT machines did not have the necessary technology to use of “radiation dose reduction” technologies that is available in newer CT scanners. 

Are your workstations infectious?

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

PARCA eNews – June 30, 2015 – A 2013 study in the Journal of the American College of Radiology found that 64.3 percent of workstation sites had evidence of Staphylococcus aureus and 21.4 percent showed signs of enteric organisms. Microphone and mouse bacterial contamination was significantly greater than that of nearby washroom toilets and doorknobs, but brief antiseptic swabbing almost completely eradicated the bacterial counts.

National Coordinator outlines strategy for interoperability

Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc

Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, is also the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a physician who has focused her career toward improving access to affordable, high quality care for all people, especially vulnerable populations, and promoting overall health. She has done this through direct patient care, medical education, policy and administrative roles, research, and public service. She recently discussed her view of the health information technology landscape in an April 24 blog post on Health Affairs Blog. She outlined an agenda for her office that includes incentivizing interoperability, “standardizing standards,” and establishing shared expectations and actions around data security and privacy. If you have time, it is well worth reading in full. 

ONC releases 2015 edition of Draft Test Procedures

PARCA eNews – May 30, 2015 – ONC is releasing draft test procedures concurrently with the release of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), and encourages stakeholders to refer to the NPRM as they review and comment on these test procedures. All test procedures will undergo public review and comment before being finalized and approved by the National Coordinator.

SIIM 2015 presentations highlights security points to remember

Helen Oscislawski, J.D.

PARCA eNews – May 30, 2015 – The main message of recent healthcare data breaches is to learn from other’s mistakes. With that in mind, Helen Oscislawski, Esq., of Oscislawski LLC, gave a list of the top 10 IT security concepts to remember In a SIIM 2015 presentation, May 29.

As compiled by Evan Godt of HealthImaging.com here are six of them:

Do a HIPAA Security Audit – This federal regulation (45 CFR 164.306) provides specifications on the technical, administrative and physical specification of implementing security standards.

HHS announces $1 million in new grant programs for health information sharing

Projects to help long-term and behavioral health care providers

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced in April 2015 the availability of $1 million in grant funds to support community projects for the Community Interoperability Health Information Exchange (HIE) Program. The funding will help support and enable the flow of health information at the community level, leading to better care and better health.

Joint HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging workgroup invites new members

PARCA eNews – May 29, 2015 – HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) and SIIM (Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine) have joined forces to establish a Joint Workgroup to share enterprise-imaging strategies and to create awareness that images are an essential part of the EHR. 

Dr. Jim Whitfill, SIIM Board Member and the Marketing, Liaison, and Communications Portfolio Lead, reviewed the charter and described the mission, purpose and goals of this collaborative effort of HIMSS and SIIM in his January 2015 SIIM eCommunity forum post.

Are we ready to do ICD-10?

Penny Osmon Bahr, CHC, CPC, CPC-I, PCS, 

Director of Healthcare Solutions at Avastone 

Health Solutions

With multiple delays in implementing ICD-10, and the rock solid, “no-more-delays,” go-live date of Oct. 1 fast approaching, PARCA eNews checked in with Penny Osmon Bahr, director of Healthcare Solutions at Avastone Health Solutions, an integrated hardware, software and healthcare operations consulting firm. Osmon Bahr is an executive health care operations expert with over 18 years of industry experience with an emphasis in Medicare compliance, coding and billing, HIPAA privacy and security, quality measurement and health information management. Osmon Bahr is professionally respected for her broad industry knowledge, leadership, and her ability to convey complex information to all stakeholders, making her a sought-after guest speaker at conferences. She most recently presented a case study of a successful ICD-10 implementation at HiMSS 2015. She is a Professional Medical Coding Curriculum Instructor, certified in Healthcare Compliance through the Health Care Compliance Association and an AAPC-trained ICD-10 instructor. Osmon Bahr is a member of the Wisconsin ICD-10 partnership steering team and sits on the HIMSS national ICD-10 task force. She also is a member of the Medical Group Management Association.

Leadership Survey Reveals Top Priorities for Healthcare Leaders

PARCA eNews – April 13, 2015 – The results of the annual HIMSS leadership survey of more than 300 participants, examined key trending issues impacting the business of healthcare including patient considerations, security concerns, insurance models and policy mandates. 

The results showed: 

Big Data takes shape with IBM’s HIMSS 2015 announcement

PARCA eNews – April 22, 2015 – The nebulous vision of big data in healthcare became a bit clearer at HiMSS 2015 with IBM’s announcement of Watson Health.

Watson is IBM’s supercomputer that has been looking for a purpose for several years following its famous stint as a game show contestant on Jeopardy. With Watson Health, IBM is staking out a claim on a huge parcel of the cloud. With partners Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Apple, together with

HiMSS survey shows push to mobile health IT continues

HiMSS News – Today, at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, HIMSS released the results of the 2015 HIMSS Mobile Technology Survey. This year’s study, of more than 200 healthcare provider employees, found that nearly 90 percent of respondents are utilizing mobile devices within their organizations to engage patients in their healthcare. The report also showed that respondents believe that mHealth technologies are beginning to drive cost savings and improve the quality of care delivered.

Apple Announces ResearchKit for medical researchers

PARCA eNews – April 14, 2015 – Apple® today announced ResearchKit™, a software framework designed for medical and health research that helps doctors, scientists and other researchers gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using mobile devices.

Where has all the PACS innovation gone?

PACS issues

PARCA eNews – April 13, 2015 – Since 2005, there has been little innovation in medical image storage and communications systems, according to Catherine Tucker, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

In a study of the medical IT sector, Tucker contends that the reason, is a broken US patent system that allows people and companies to patent ideas without ever actually having to create a new product.

Health IT security more than HIPAA compliance

With the recent Anthem security breach, healthcare information security has once again taken center stage. With congress scrutinizing HIE security plans PARCA eNews talked with Cris V. Ewell, PhD, the Chief Information Security Officer at Seattle Children’s, about security. Seattle Children’s is a not-for-profit pediatric hospital, academic medical center, and research institute. Dr. Ewell has full strategic and operational oversight for building and managing the information security framework, teams, programs, and policies. He is a frequent speaker at healthcare industry privacy and information security forums and

HIMSS15 set to begin April 12

Save the Date! 

Apr 12 – 16, 2015 Central Time

Chicago, McCormick Place

HIMSS Annual Conference is the largest health IT event in the industry. Nearly 38,000 attendees came to Orlando for HIMSS14. Healthcare IT professionals, clinicians and executives from around the world will gather to explore the value of health IT through education, networking and solutions – discovering new ways to advance innovation, make a greater impact and improve outcomes.

Draft bill aims to improve interoperability

PARCA eNews – Mar. 13, 2015 – Draft legislation was circulated last week entitled Ensuring Interoperability of Qualified Health Records aimed at enhancing nationwide progress toward interoperabiltiy.  It defines interoperability as a qualified electronic health record that must satisfy the following criteria: open access, complete access to health data, does not block access to other qualified electronic health records, and asks for additional recommendations. Among its provisions, the bill:

Office of Cybersecurity and Communications public meeting

PARCA eNews – Mar. 6, 2015 –The Office of Cybersecurity and Communications department of Homeland Security held a public meeting on March 18, 2015 regarding cybersecurity information sharing, Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAO’s), and the Executive Order, “Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing,” that was signed by President Obama on Feb. 13, 2015. 

A pair of presentations at ECR 2015 show off REMS software

PARCA eNews – Mar. 5, 2015 – Successful connection of various vendor's radiation producing equipment to Radiation Exposure Monitoring Systems (REMS) is a challenge and integration into hospital or radiology information systems (HIS/RIS) introduces further layers of difficulty. 

As Aunt Minnie writer Erik Ridley reports, an Irish research group showed that a web-based dose tracking software could track and analyze CT studies, while German group showed that a cloud-based system using DICOM structured reports was a feasible alternative for dose tracking. 

Joint Health IT Policy and Standards Committee issues MU update

PARCA eNews – Feb. 20, 2015 – The Joint Health IT Policy and Standards committee reported that through December 2014, 90 percent of eligible hospitals had attested to meaningful use of certified technology. Of those that attested between 2011– 2013, more than 90 percent returned to the Incentive Program in subsequent years. 

The road ahead for PACS Administrators in 2015

Josh Baker, Director of Operations for ThinAir Data Corporation

2015 is poised to be a pivotal year as the move from PACS systems to enterprise imaging picks up steam and begins to transform what it means to be a PACS administrator. Josh Baker, Director of Operations for ThinAir Data Corporation has seen multiple transformations in information and imaging technology over his 17-year career. In addition to managing such transformations, he has co-written and edited with Herman Oosterwijk multiple course books and study guides for OTech, Inc., as well as PARCA certification tests. PARCA eNews asked him to share his perspectives on what PACS administrators might expect in the coming year.