When the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services wanted to
increase efficiency and better service its remote communities, they
tapped Agfa HealthCare.
While the collaboration is still in its early stages, the end
result hopes to be a picture archiving and communications system
(PACS) for the RC)seau Universitaire IntC)grC) de SantC) (RUIS)
Sherbrooke and RUIS Laval medical regions.
PACS allows images from tests like x-rays, CT scans, MRI and
ultrasounds to be stored digitally, eliminating the need for
traditional film.
Images are stored as computer files which health professionals
will be able to view over a secure network. Authorized users will
have access to any image at any time, eliminating the need for
patient file transfers.
PACS will decrease costs associated with film-based production,
including the cost of x-ray film, chemicals to develop film images,
as well as making testing more efficient, according to Jason Knox,
marketing manager, Agfa HealthCare.
"How do you put a price tag on the quality of patient care or
faster turn around times?" said Knox. "PACS will allow for tests to
be read faster so that patients can be diagnosed and discharged
faster."
Lack of radiologists in Canada has been a problem within the
health care system for awhile and PACS will make radiologists more
efficient because they will be able to read more exams in a given
time period, he said.
"PACS will eliminate lost films and retesting. It will also
address the radiologist shortage by allowing radiologists to
support remote health care centres without having to be there in
person."
Remote areas of Quebec will be the places that benefit the most,
said Knox.
"There are no concerns about privacy problems even though
patient images can be viewed over a network by doctors," said Knox.
"What we as an IT company are using for this project is the same
level of security used with online banking."
Knox estimated that 50 per cent of the project will be completed
by the end of this year, with full completion expected by the end
of 2007.
RUIS-Laval serves more than 1.8 million people within a
400,000-square-kilometer region; it is set to become one of the
largest PACS installations in Canada.
RUIS-Sherbrooke will implement the system in all 15 hospitals in
the region.
Agfa has been working with similar projects elsewhere, among
them Ontario, where Timmins, Sudbury and the remote surrounding
areas only have two radiologists for their 15 hospitals and have
seen vast benefits from implementing PACS.
"Now physician consultation has become that much easier, things
are done in a matter of minutes, not hours or days," said Mike
Gasparotto, NORrad PACS System/Clinical Administrator in Timmins.
"With verbal reports it's as though the radiologist is in the next
room, you can call the radiologist and ask him to give you a report
by phone in a matter of minutes."
Agfa HealthCare's collaboration with NORrad went "very well,"
according to Gasparotto.
"They are always there, always accessible, and very
knowledgeable about their equipment," he said. "They have complete
solutions -- any glitch or problem that occurs they are always able
to resolve it."
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