The feature topic of our March 19 meeting was the latest trends and developments in Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS). PACS is a technology that has existed for more than a decade but has become a hot topic in the past 2-3 years. George Bowers, a principal from Health Care Information Consultants, led the discussion. George is the former CIO of American Radiology Services in Baltimore where he implement PACS and teleradiology in 18 imaging centers. The discussion focused on what PACS technology is, what it can do, where it is going, and why it has become such an important topic for health care technology generally.
Our second speaker was Brad Levin from AMICAS, a PACS vendor based in Boston, demonstrated a real PACS product, showing its capabilities and features. AMICAS is a company that got its start at Massachusetts General Hospital and has rapidly become one of the significant players in the PACS arena. The discussion also turned to how all of this new imaging technology is driving change in the diagnostic interpretation of medical images.
Anna Marie Mason, the Executive Director of the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology, talked about how the medical field is trying to stay ahead of the changes in industry demand before it becomes totally overwhelmed.
We also heard updates on the recent HIMSS conference, regulatory developments, some important developments in capital financing, and discussed other topics of interest to the technology and provider community.