Dear PACS Insider,
From my perspective, one of the most interesting articles that I read in ECR Today, the daily newspaper of the European Congress of Radiology, was written by our contributing writer Theo Ahadome. The article discusses the need for future research and development (R&D) activities in PACS to focus inward on creating innovations that will make PACS easier to use while increasing productivity. Click here to read.
An article about the value of PACS as a communications and decision-making tool in a Norwegian cancer treatment center reinforces how the technology positively impacts patient treatment outside the walls of a radiology department. Read it, and if your hospital has had similar experiences that would be of interest to the PACS Digital Community, please let me know.
A lot of PACS R&D focus has been on making radiology images and reports accessible to physicians who need them beyond the boundaries of a PACS or enterprise PACS network. This is an important component to make various types of telemedicine viable. But from a financial standpoint, how affordable is telemedicine? Features editor Wayne Forrest attended a scientific session at ECR 2013 that presented a cost analysis of a program in Germany. You'll be interested in what he learned.
But has the digitization of radiology diminished the role and value of radiologists? Contributing writer Dr. Werner Golder thinks so, and explains why in this guest column.
Do you have opinions about PACS? We welcome guest columns and look forward to hearing from you.
