Imaging Archive International and Compaq Bring Top Medical Expertise Virtually
Anywhere
MCV Hospitals Shows Benefit of Industry-Standard Technologies to Healthcare
Providers and Patients in Outlying Communities
ATLANTA and HOUSTON, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A Picture Archiving
and Communications System currently in use by Virginia Commonwealth
University's MCV Hospitals may be a diagnostic superhighway for medical
professionals who practice in rural areas, who staff medical centers in more
than one community or who need that often-sought second opinion about a
patient's condition. For patients, it will mean fewer headaches from
traveling between consulting physicians carrying medical records and images.
The IA2000 imaging storage and distribution system offered by Norcross,
Georgia-based Imaging Archive International, LLC (IAI), operates on any of the
industry-standard ProLiant servers from Compaq Computer Corporation
(NYSE: CPQ).
Using IA2000, physicians and radiologists in different locations can
simultaneously view digital images of a patient and consult on the patient's
condition and treatment within seconds of completing a radiological scan.
This is accomplished without the risk of losing original images while being
shipped or stored. Using readily available, off-the-shelf components means
lower initial costs, more affordable system maintenance and uncompromising
stability and performance.
"Using IA2000, specialized medical expertise is both available and
affordable for small medical centers and rural hospitals," said Paul Sumner,
CEO of IAI. "Scalable, open systems like Compaq ProLiant servers and
StorageWorks allow doctors to do in seconds what used to take hours or days.
The savings in both time and money is dramatic."
MCVH put the IA2000 digital imaging system to work between its central hub
in downtown Richmond, the only Level I Trauma Center in Central Virginia, and
an MCVH outpatient facility about 11 miles away. The IA2000 system was
installed to improve operational efficiencies at the two facilities, while at
the same time enhancing patient care.
The system is scalable to meet the needs of virtually any size medical
center. MCVH officials say IA2000 has tremendous potential for leveraging
medical expertise, which is sometimes scarce in rural areas.
"We think the medical imaging community -- rural and urban alike -- will
welcome this technology eagerly," said Ronald Miller, director of radiology at
MCVH. "The reliability of the IA2000 system has been exceptional. It simply
hasn't gone down since it entered service, and that's even more important to
us than its reasonable cost. This capability in our clinics means greater
convenience for our patients and increased efficiency for our physicians and
radiologists."
At MCVH, the IA2000 system manages some 250,000 patient imaging studies
performed annually. The system deployed at MCVH operates using Compaq
ProLiant servers, more than 60 Compaq workstations, and Compaq StorageWorks
hardware RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) enclosures.
The IA2000 system stores and transmits images while meeting the medical
information security standards mandated by Congress in the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
"Compaq has led the drive for more innovative uses of open, industry-
standard technologies," said Tom Baber, vice president, Southeast Region for
Compaq. "This effort at the VCU's Medical College of Virginia Hospitals
illustrates the value of integrating Compaq equipment with digital imaging
solutions. When a sophisticated application like IA2000 can be delivered on
off-the-shelf Compaq ProLiant servers and our StorageWorks products, we know
we're fulfilling our mission in healthcare IT."
IA2000 allows physicians to view diagnostic images from any DICOM III-
conforming equipment. DICOM III is the current technical standard for
communication between digital medical imaging devices. |
