Carestream SuperPACS Architecture

PACS has been around for a number of years, and many mid-sized or larger healthcare facilities have a variety of PACS and RIS systems in place. As reimbursement drops and patient workload increases, organizations must find ways to streamline and optimize their workflow. We have often seen healthcare organizations where the radiologist and imaging volume may be very high in one facility, and under-utilized in another facility. The radiologist must learn to use different software at each facility to read images, which is inefficient.

Carestream has developed a product called SuperPACS that ties these disparate PACS systems together. Images can be created in the source PACS and RIS at once facility, then sent to the Carestream SuperPACS system. Here a single integrated worklist is created despite the images coming from different source destinations and facilities. The images can be read, the reports dictated, transcribed and signed, then the final reports sent back to the appropriate PACS/RIS system. This allows the radiologist to share and allocate workload, consult with other radiologists about a specific case, and not be tied to a particular location. Healthcare organizations can have one comprehensive view of their imaging workflow, yet leverage their investment in their existing PACS systems.

Saint John's Hospital in Tulsa recently implemented SuperPACS across their enterprise, tied various PACS system into one integrated view. This approach is much more cost effective than replacing all your existing PACS systems and gives you the productivity gains inherent in an integrated enterprise workflow.

SuperPACS Brochure
SuperPACS White Paper