The Customer
Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem (RMRI) is a full service imaging center providing the most up-to-date services in MRI, CT, Ultrasound, Radiography, Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, Bone Density Measurement and Fluoroscopy.
RMRI’s experienced Radiologists and staff continue the proud tradition begun in the 1950's. RMRI is committed to providing patients and physicians in the community with timely high-quality medical imaging, delivering exceptional care in a personal and convenient environment.
The Challenge
Given the growing volume and complexity of studies, Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem was faced with significant challenges in archiving and managing patient studies. The implementation of a feature-rich, scalable, reliable and yet cost-effective PACS was a significant and time-sensitive requirement. RMRI needed to implement a PACS that could provide a fully integrated and seamless workflow for both General Radiology and Mammography.
Mr. John Brase, Director at Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem, desired a web-enabled solution to streamline the operations of RMRI and provide the radiologists with ability to read studies quickly from anywhere and provide reports in a timely manner. In order to grow the practice, he needed to vastly improve report distribution with referring physicians and provide them with the ability to view studies and reports very easily. Many PACS solutions could cost anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 with annual maintenance contracts in excess of $50,000 and the complexity of these systems meant that the practice had to factor in additional costs for an on-site IT resource. In addition, other PACS vendors would also charge RMRI extra fees if they exceeded a certain number of studies per year. Determining the right PACS was critical to the long-term prospects of Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem.
The Solution
Mr. Brase was impressed with the cost-effective and yet feature-rich Candelis ImageGrid PACS. The ImageGrid’s price point was a fraction of other PACS solutions and it could be implemented and maintained with minimal IT supervision. RMRI was also pleased that there are no additional fees to connect new modalities or workstations to ImageGrid PACS, which was an important consideration given their plans for adding modalities. The ImageGrid's FDA 510(k) cleared Radiology and Mammography viewers provided all of RMRI's radiologists easy and seamless access to all studies. ImageGrid PACS was implemented within a day and all modalities were easily configured to send studies to it.
In addition, Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem uses Candelis' ASTRA Cloud services for data back-up and viewing of studies by referring physicians. ASTRA Cloud is powered by AWS and backs up all of the data stored on the ImageGrid PACS to allow for disaster recovery of patient data onto the ImageGrid PACS. ASTRA Lite is a zero-footprint browser-based web interface that enables the visualization of studies and reports stored in the ASTRA Cloud. Secure access to ASTRA is provided from anywhere via a web browser and ASTRA Lite’s powerful features and tools allow referring physicians to precisely examine studies and annotate findings.
The Results
The ImageGrid PACS was installed within a single day with no interruptions to workflow and RMRI’s daily operations. RMRI’s staff were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with ImageGrid PACS and how it immediately started to automate their workflow.
"We implemented the Candelis PACS for a fraction of what we had been quoted from other vendors. The entire implementation and transition was seamless and Candelis' support has been excellent." says Mr. Brase. "If your desire is to implement an inexpensive, transparent, scalable, low maintenance and robust PACS system, then Candelis is the right choice."
ImageGrid's inherent cost advantages meant that Radiology and MRI of Bethlehem will realize a significant return on their investment, giving it the ability and the flexibility to devote precious financial resources to invest in the latest modalities for better patient care. "Candelis has enabled me to better compete with far larger institutions at a fraction of the cost of other vendor offerings. Today, we are able to profitably provide timely imaging services to patients and referring physicians." says Mr. Brase.
