Oklahoma City Indian Clinic
UPDATE! DR-3500 Installation Video
InTelemed and Carestream Health recently completed the installation of a Kodak DR-3500 digital radiology system at the OKC Indian Clinic, and we shot a video to show the system in use. You can view it below.
PACS, CR, DR and Film Printer
The Oklahoma City Indian Clinic is a large multi-specialty healthcare facility that serves the diverse needs of over 15,000 Native American patients from 220 federally recognized tribes living in and around the OKC metro area. What began as a small clinic housed in a cramped, antiquated facility staffed by volunteers using donated medical supplies, has now grown into 27,000 square foot state of the art medical facility that has expanded services to radiology, prenatal, optometry, mammography and other critical services.
Phase 1 - CR and Film Printer
To speed efficiency and improve patient care, OKC Indian Clinic decided to install Computed Radiography (CR) and PACS in 2008. After an extensive search and examining products from a number of vendors, they chose InTelemed to implement a Carestream PACS and Kodak CR system in their growing department. “I was referred to InTelemed by our radiologist” says Radiology Director Christin Crosswhite. “Indian Health Services also recommended Carestream so that made it an easy choice for us.”
As part of a phased implementation, OKC Indian Clinic installed a Kodak CR-825 system, a Kodak LS-75 film digitizer and a Dryview 8150 film printer several weeks prior to implementing PACS. “I’m glad we did the CR first,” stated Christen. “It allowed us to learn CR before we started tackling PACS.”
IT Integration
Working with the Clinic’s IT staff, InTelemed assisted with a firewall upgrade and integrating the PACS equipment with the existing clinic network. Prior to the PACS implementation, InTelemed set up the VPN tunnels to the radiology group reading for the Clinic. “We were able to go live with teleradiology almost immediately without having to wait for the full PACS implementation,” says Christen. “This gave us a several week head start on getting faster reports to our referring physicians.”
PACS
While the planning for the PACS system took several weeks, the actual installation was completed in just three days, with training starting the very next week. “Proper planning up front can really ease PACS implementation,” states James Pratt, InTelemed CEO. “I have heard of PACS installations taking weeks and months. That is normally due to the lack of planning on everyone’s part. I would rather take a bit of extra time to do all the planning and coordination up front, and minimize the interruption of our customer’s workflow.”
James continues, “Here at InTelemed, we act as the prime contractor and ‘go to’ contact with the customer. It is extremely important for us to take ownership of the project for the customer. The buck stops here. We manage customer expectations and make sure the system is implemented to meet the customer’s goals. Customers can purchase Carestream PACS from a number of resellers. What separates us from other resellers is our ability to understand the in-depth technical requirements and our willingness to take ownership of the project and make absolutely sure it meets our customers expectations.”
Within three weeks of the PACS installation, OKC Indian Clinic had removed their dark room processor to free up more space. “We haven’t missed the darkroom at all,” says Christen. The Clinic went completely filmless in just a few weeks. Physicians view images on workstations located throughout the clinic and patients are provided CD’s of their images for outside referrals. “We still print film occasionally, but it is the exception now, not the rule,” claims Christen.
DR-3500
After nearly two years with CR and PACS, the next step for OKC Indian Clinic was the installation of a Kodak Directview DR-3500 digital radiology system. Their existing x-ray room was in need of replacement, so after the success of the PACS system it was a natural choice to implement a Kodak DR system. “Buy-in from my administrator and physicians was much easier after seeing the success of the PACS” says Christen. “We wanted to implement DR right out of the gate, but it was a big financial commitment. By going CR first we were able to show improved patient care and throughputs, thereby easing the way for DR implementation the following year. We have been very pleased with the Kodak CR system and since the DR system has the same user interface it was easy for us to choose Kodak and InTelemed when we decided to go DR. I’m looking forward to the next phase!”
That next phase begin in November 2008 with the installation of a Kodak DR-3500. The x-ray room at OKC Indian Clinic only needed minor modifications to accomodate the DR system, and important factor in Christin's choice of DR system. "Our old x-ray system was only single phase, and it gave us trouble penetrating the heavier patients we often see. We chose an 80kw generator on our new DR and it required three phase power. Getting the electrical utility to drop three phase power to our building was the biggest challenge" says Christin. The actual installation of the DR-3500 was completed in one week, with Carestream training the following week. "We love the new system and our radiologists really like the image quality. Our workflow is so much faster now than it was with CR. This allows us to schedule more patients, which is important for our growing clinic" stated Christin.
InTelemed's Role with Indian Health
“I really enjoy working with the Indian Health Facilities” says Pratt. “I am a registered Cherokee Indian so my kids and I use these services. It is very satisfying to see Indian healthcare facilities get the same state of the art equipment that we typically install at bigger hospitals. Carestream has an entire family of products that fit any sized health facility, from the largest University systems to the smallest clinics. They all get the same great Kodak image quality and same software features in their PACS and RIS, but the pricing and performance is sized to meet anyone’s budget.”
After using the Carestream PACS for nearly a full year, Christen has become local guru on PACS administration. Other PACS administrators now call her to ask complex questions on implementation, setting up routing rules, and even simple things like managing user logins. “I never thought I would become a computer geek” laughs Christen, “but the Carestream PACS system is pretty easy to administer. I can really keep an eye on what is going on with tools such as the Info Router and Configuration Assistant. It has been much easier than I anticipated.”
Christin’s plans for the future? “I would like to add CT services and eventually MRI. We are so busy right now we can barely keep up, so someday we may have to expand to an even bigger facility. I feel very comfortable that our PACS will easily grow no matter how big our workload becomes.”
DR-3500 Update
InTelemed recently completed a video during the installation of the DR-3500 and we are working on a video of the system in use at the OKC Indian Clinic. Below is the video during installation.