Traditional PACS and Radiology Groups: A Dangerous Combination One of the major problems with solutions offered by technology vendors is that they are not designed to meet the needs of radiology groups, instead they are hospital-oriented “hand-me-downs” that are modality, film, or HIS-influenced. They are not really focused on solving the problems of today’s radiology groups, but are prejudiced toward the needs of the film supplier, PACS provider or HIS vendor, and motivated to:

• Sell new MRIs at your facility
• Replace your HIS/RIS system; or
• Try desperately to replace money you previously spent on film

These vendors are trapped in a feature/function race that is focused on delivering more “bells and whistles” than the next vendor and not on the needs of radiologists and patients. Implementing a PACS solution is a resource-intensive money-pit, when it comes to up-front costs, shipping, set-up, testing and then waiting for version 2.0 because version 1.0 is “buggy” or simply doesn’t work. The list of problems with PACS for radiology groups includes:

• Traditional PACS not optimized for a multi-site radiology model
• Inability to easily scale with radiology group growth
• Poor or no workflow
• No Internet connectivity
• Expense and complexity of managing onsite hardware, applications, databases
• Technology obsolescence
• High-upfront capital outlay
• Long, complicated implementation cycle