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St Paul Radiology Goes Filmless

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St Paul Radiology Goes Filmless

Part 2

“Similarly, the electronic environment that PACS brings to us allows a continual flow of images into the radiologists, thus eliminating the pauses in workflow associated with waiting for technologists to bring cases into the read area and the hanging of the films.”

“Equally important, our radiologists not only read faster, they read better because of PACS -- the capabilities of this technology are such that interpretation of images can be made with greater exactness.”

“Best of all, where overhead is concerned, these productivity gains have come about without an associated increase in the number of full-time-equivalent technologists on hand,” Olson notes.

FILMLESS STRATEGY

With 68 radiologists aboard, St Paul Radiology ranks among the largest private imaging groups in the country. The enterprise owns four imaging centers in the Twin Cities market and a fifth in North Dakota. It also supplies imaging services on a contractual basis to nine area hospitals and two treatment centers (both dedicated to cancer care).

The group offers a comprehensive range of diagnostic and interventional radiology services. On the diagnostic side, services include MRI, CT, mammography, ultrasound, positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear medicine, fluoroscopy, and bone densitometry. Among the interventional procedures are angiography, angioplasty and stent placement, clot dissolving techniques, vertebroplasty, needle biopsy, and drainage.

Edward Schons, MD, who developed an interest in x-ray technology during the First World War when he was a young physician, founded St Paul Radiology in 1920.

Throughout its history, St Paul Radiology has sought to position itself on the cutting edge of new imaging technologies. For instance, it was one of the earliest in the state to invest in computed tomography scanning -- the year was 1974. This year, St Paul Radiology was the first group to bring PET to the area.

In 1994, St Paul Radiology began considering PACS technology as part of a strategy to convert the group’s operations from a film-based to a filmless environment. Two years later, it acquired an eMed PACS and quickly began integrating it within the enterprise.

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