IMPAX Insights: a series of White Papers on IMPAX 6

The IMPAX Insights are a series of technical articles around PACS and IMPAX. They are written by Agfa HealthCare's best brains from around the globe and address technically oriented clinicians and IT specialists alike. IMPAX Insights provide you with deep understanding of trends and technical concepts for all things PACS.

The topics range from subjects such as Clinical data consolidation to Patient Safety. Our current issue is titled "One patient, one longitudinal patient record,is this possible?" and you can download it
here .

IMPAX Insights archive

IMPAX Insights #11 - One patient, one longitudinal patient record,is this possible? Yes, with Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Suite.

Healthcare facilities are moving with a global trend to improve the delivery of patient care by requiring a longitudinal view of a patient's records, regardless of where the data was acquired. As a result, the healthcare market is now moving towards a patient directed approach that spans across multisite environments, to realize this longitudinal view. To achieve this goal, however, there are significant hurdles to overcome

IMPAX Insights #10 - Too many images. Too much data to review. How do I cope with the rising image & data volume that I must review?

That is the question asked by many Radiologists who are logging into PACS to view and report on diagnostic studies. Previously a Radiologist's worklist was once made up of studies containing hundreds of images. But with the growing use of CT and MR modalities, one study can now contain thousands or sometimes tens of thousands of images. This data explosion is resulting in a significant workflow and data management challenge.

IMPAX Insights #9 - Compression of medical images in Agfa HealthCare IMPAX® 6 PACS

Image compression is fundamental to the efficient and cost-effective use of digital medical imaging technology and applications. There are two methods of image compression: lossless compression enables an exact reproduction of the original image from the compressed file. However, this scheme achieves relatively low compression rates of about 3:1.

IMPAX Insights #8 - Leveraging the benefits of Service Oriented Architecture

Service-oriented architecture is seen as a way to improve agility, enhance productivity, reduce costs and achieve full interoperability. IMPAX 6 utilizes a shared, multi-tiered infrastructure comprised of business or web services to help our customers fully integrate their organizations.

IMPAX Insights #7 - All about IHE

Envision a day when vital information can be passed seamlessly from system to system within and across departments, and then made available at the point of care. IHE is designed to make this vision a reality by improving the state of systems integration and removing some of the barriers to optimal patient care.

IMPAX Insights #6 - IMPAX® Teaching Files

Most academic radiologists have large teaching files on film, gleaned from clinical cases encountered on a daily basis. Film-based images stored in filing cabinets are heavy, cumbersome, expensive to duplicate and vulnerable to damage. To make this rich resource more accessible for teaching, reference and research purposes, clinicians leverage PACS technology as an 'electronic filing cabinet' to make storage and sharing of digital images easier and more accessible. Learn how your academic institution can make the most of this valuable feature.

IMPAX Insights #5 - IMPAX® 6 security approach

Delivering a secure environment has always been one of Agfa HealthCare's most important customer commitments. IMPAX®, including our RIS Gateway was the first PACS solutions to pass the rigors of the US Department of Defense's Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Program. With the release of the IMPAX 6 platform, Agfa HealthCare renewed this commitment by improving and expanding this level of security using some of the latest technologies known at the time of this release.

IMPAX Insights #4 - The Challenges of Managing Clinical Enterprise Data

Enterprise based solutions are dramatically changing the business of healthcare informatics. They are redefining everything from the how departments and disciplines work to how people and healthcare organizations interact. The challenges across the Enterprise from business processes to the quality of care a patient receives. Patient care is provided across multiple entities, from the general practitioner through the specialist and then to the Hospital.

IMPAX Insights #3 - How to Build a Better Healthcare IT Infrastructure

Agfa HealthCare became a leading provider of IT solutions to the medical community by listening to our customers, learning about their needs and their working environment, and then developing solutions that are tested in close collaboration with healthcare professionals. By listening to the needs of clinicians, administrators, and IT managers of hospitals, healthcare facilities, imaging centers, and office practices of all sizes, a collective vision of easily accessible, multi-department, multi-modality diagnostic and procedure information becomes clear.

IMPAX Insights #2 - The IMPAX Interface

The environment in which a radiologist works requires special consideration of how a diagnostic interface should look and behave. In particular, the design should reflect the reality that users will be in front of the interface for extended periods of time, which can lead to side effects such as eye fatigue, headaches and mood swings.

IMPAX Insights #1 - Persona-Based Workflow Design

Over the time since PACS was first introduced, the traditional user group has expanded beyond radiology to include surgeons and referring physicians. It is therefore obvious that a one-size-fits-all approach can no longer apply. Gain insight into how persona-based applications are designed to help healthcare facilities maximize their IT investments while supporting their individual users.