What PACS certifications do I need, CIIP vs PARCA?

Repirnted from OTech blog posted 08 Feb 2021  PACS administrators or as they are also called, Imaging Informatics Professionals (IIP), have been around for about 20 years, ever since providers started to realize that it takes a dedicated support staff to manage the PACS system and be responsible for its data integrity and operation.  In 2004 a certification agency, the PACS Administrators Registry and certification Association, aka PARCA, was formed to provide a proof of a certain level of proficiency witnessed by passing a certification exam. Not that long after that, the American Board of Imaging Informatics, akaABII, was formed in a partnership between ARRT and SIIM, providing another certification called CIIP.