Radiology Reading Groups

Today, tools are crucial to allow radiologists to efficiently interpret images regardless of their location. Aspyra meets these needs with a family of products that function as a distributed, “virtual” enterprise reading environment.
In the past, the clinical imaging management systems (the radiology information system (RIS) and picture archive and communications systems (PACS) were used in a centralized configuration where images are acquired, read, and archived at a single location, such as a hospital or imaging center. Procedures were interpreted and reports generated either on site by a staff or visiting radiologist or, the study images were transferred to another central location for reading.

However, as the number of imaging procedures increased, the number of radiologists and reimbursement declined at these sites. Many radiologist groups formed teleradiology, nighthawk, or dayhawk reading teams. These groups have struggled to receive studies and supporting data from different facilities with a variety of different computer systems and then to return a report in a timely manner.

Aspyra’s distributed, “virtual” enterprise reading environment includes a single full-featured reading workstation that provides a combined reading work list, containing studies from any or all facilities within the enterprise. Prior studies can be retrieved from any location for comparison, and the resulting reports returned to the originating system for long-term storage. Additional large, long-term storage devices are not necessary for duplication of existing PACS system’s archives.

Aspyra’s proven solution for distributed environments and the capabilities of the its PACS products make it an excellent choice for any distributed reading network.