Choosing a PACS for your Orthopedic Office. The Beginning.

A few years ago my office decided in put an MRI and CR in our office.  As the lengthy process of installation was in progress, we began looking for a PACS system to use.  We compiled a list of requirements, and requested proposals from a large number of digital imaging companies.  We were somewhat naive to digital imaging at the time, and thought many of them looked good.  We were amazed at the cost: all of them were at least $40,000 and some as much as $150,000 - for a simple orthopedic surgery office.  

So, after a great deal of internet searching, and hundreds of hours of research into medical imaging storage and viewing, I came across a number of open source tools that did the same thing, but for free!  Support was the biggest issue - what happens if something fails.  Despite this, we elected to give it a try.  Our total expense was $2000 for a good computer to work as the image server, and $100 for a backup external drive.

After 2000 studies and 2 years of use, the system had been working flawlessly.  No failures unless someone turned the server off.  Turning it back on always solved that problem.  Developing a support team was a concern however.  

Out of all this, Real Imaging Solutions, Inc. was born.  Partnering with an experienced Microsoft developer and administrator, Real Imaging set out to fill this niche - RIS and PACS for the physician office and small imaging center.  

How complicated does it need to be?  They are just a bunch of pictures that must be organized properly.

From this simple beginning, Reflections PACS was born.  We are fully FDA-Approved for use in the United States.  Our system has been installed around the world.  Our international PACS customers have included hospitals, imaging centers, and medical and surgical offices.  We are physicians that actually use the software we sell, and helped design the support team to be responsive in a way that physicians expect.  

This blog is designed to explore medical imaging for the imaging center, and physician office world-wide.  We look forward to hearing from you.