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.

ONC issues draft Roadmap for nationwide health IT Interoperability

PARCA eNews – Jan. 30, 2015 – The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today released its draft roadmap to interoperability.

The document, “Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0,” is a proposal to deliver better care and result in healthier people through the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information.

ONC Annual Meeting

Click image to view video

PARCA eNews – Feb. 5, 2015 – The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) held its 2015 Annual Meeting Feb. 2-3, 2015, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. The meeting gathered over 1,000 health IT partners for two days of presentations and breakout sessions. The Annual Meeting was webcasted on Feb. 2, 2015 and many of the sessions were video recorded. If you missed either the meeting or the webcast, many of the talks are available online to view at your convenience. 

Survey says referring physicians prefer multi-media reports

Photo courtesy: Biomorphdesk.com

PARCA eNews – Feb. 12, 2015 – PACS administrators need to get ready for MERR, or multi-media enhanced radiology reports, if a new survey of referring physicians is any indication of where radiology reports are heading.

In a 22 question survey of 402 referring physicians in the Jan. 29, Journal of the American College of Radiology, 86 percent of the respondents reported “improved understanding of radiology findings by correlating images to text reports” and 79 percent  reported “easier access to images while monitoring progression of a disease/condition” would be advantages of MERR.

New HIE Grant Funding Opportunity Announced

The Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced a new ONC Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) investing in health information exchange (HIE) as part of a Department-wide effort to achieve the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information to improve health and transform care. Dr. Karen DeSalvo later announced two more FOAs designed to strengthen the health IT workforce and build on work done by the 17 Beacon Communities to innovate health care delivery with the goal of building a learning health system.

Primary care providers not referring for low-dose CT screening

PARCA eNews – Jan. 23, 2015 – An expected surge in low-dose CT screening for high-risk lung cancer may not occur right away, in large part due to lack of awareness among primary care providers, according to a new survey published online Jan. 22, 2015 in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine surveyed 212 primary care physicians in 2013 at an academic medical center about their perceptions of the effectiveness of low-dose CT screening for lung cancer, the screening guidelines and their referrals for the screening.

Identifying chokepoints is key to providing optimal PACS performance

Michael Lunsford, CEO
Spectrum PACS Services

Michael Lunsford – has been a practicing IT-based PACS administrator in a multi-hospital system with over 15 years of combined IT and PACS Administration, PACS network design and Nuclear Med, MR and CT field engineering experience with companies such as Siemens, Picker and Park Medical. He developed software, called DICOMetrix, which is a complete software platform for analyzing and monitoring radiology, cardiology, PET /CT, teleradiology any DICOM based images delivery system made by any manufacturer. He founded the DICOMetrix company in 2005 and remains its CEO. In 2013, he formed a consulting services company called Spectrum PACS Services that offers the expertise of his and other former PACS vendor support engineers and other IT gurus on his team to provide affordable expert-level help in all aspects of PACS systems performance. 

Q. What do you see as a couple of key issues facing PACS administrators for 2015?