SIIM 2018 Annual Meeting: A Preview

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SIIM18 graphic
Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD

The SIIM 2018 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. is just around the corner (May 31 to June 2). I look forward to seeing many friends, sharing ideas, and learning. I will be involved in number of sessions this year. Here is a preview.

Preparing for a Successful RFP and Contract with Vendors

Thursday, May 31 | 9:45 am – 10:45 am | Annapolis 1

In this roundtable session, participants will discuss how to best prepare for, develop, and issue an RFP, as well as how to analyze and grade the responses. We will also discuss how to best prepare for, and support, contract negotiations with a vendor.

Debate: Enterprise PACS vs. Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA): Choose Wisely

Friday, June 1 | 9:45 am – 10:45 am | Cherry Blossom Ballroom

Depending on your organization’s goals and scale of enterprise, the options available to you for an image archive can vary. In this debate-style session, we will explore the merits of using a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) vs. an archive provided as part of an Enterprise PACS. I am moderating the session.

Imaging IT Financials – Learn from the Masters

Saturday, June 2 | 12:45 pm – 2:45 pm | Baltimore 3/4/5

Participants that sign up for this learning lab (limited seats available) will work hands-on with experts to learn how to perform clear and compelling financial analysis. Two lab exercises—one focused on assessing cloud-based vs. on-premises image archive storage, and another on the IT investment required for rolling out the enterprise imaging solution to a newly acquired facility—will be worked on in teams. Each team will share their work with the other near the end of the session. Lab assistants will be on-hand to assist. Participants must bring a laptop or tablet with Microsoft Excel installed.

 

MIIT 2018 – May 4, 2018

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In just less than a month from today on Friday May 4, 2018 (Star Wars day!), the annual MIIT (Medical Imaging Informatics and Teleradiology) conference will once again be held at the beautiful Liuna Station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

This year’s theme is Connecting Imaging and Information in the Era of AI and the program features several distinguished speakers from Canada and the U.S.

Talks will cover EMR implementation, Radiology Outreach, the link between Quality and Informatics, Highly Automated Radiology (using AI), an update on IHE, and a comparison of PACS+VNA vs. Regional PACS. It will also have a panel on the impact of EMRs and AI on Radiology and a talk on AI by a speaker from IBM Watson Health.

Register Today!

MIIT Badge

IHE Buyers’ Guide – Updates for 2018

dondennison Uncategorized

The annual update to the free, online IHE Buyers’ Guide tool has been completed.

Interactive IHE Buyers Guide

Check it out here!

Not many changes to the tool content itself for this year, but several important edits to the notes about pending integration profiles were made.

A special thanks to Kinson Ho (@kinsonho) and Brad Genereaux (@IntegratorBrad). Without their help and patience, this tool would not be possible.

RSNA 2017: PACS Reconstruction

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RSNA 2017 Logo

“All the king’s horses and all the king’s men…”

Deconstructing a PACS into discrete, enterprise-scale components seems to be all the rage for many organizations. But, like many things in life, taking something apart is often far easier than putting the pieces back together (and getting something that works).

At this year’s RSNA meeting, I will chair a session on PACS Reconstruction (RCC24) on Mon 27-Nov-2017 from 2:30 to 4:00 pm CT that will focus on the challenges and opportunities of building an integrated enterprise-wide imaging solution for diagnostic review and clinical access.

Following my introduction of core concepts, we will hear from Charlene Tomaselli, Director of Medical Imaging IT at Johns Hopkins and Bob Coleman, Senior Director of Enterprise Imaging Informatics at MaineHealth on their progress and vision to providing an integrated imaging solution for their enterprises.

We will have a panel Q&A with the audience to share lessons learned and discuss how to best prepare for changes.

Enterprise PACS vs. Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA)

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I recently contributed an article to HealthCareBusiness that explored the scenarios whereby the use of an Enterprise PACS—defined as a system serving multiple organizations and facilities across an enterprise—or the use of a VNA may be the right approach for an organization seeking to consolidate their image archive and provide a longitudinal patient imaging record. It also covers some scenarios where both may be required.

To some vendors, this can be an ideological debate. It can also lead to discussions about the definition of what is “vendor-neutral” or not.

What is important is understanding what problems you are trying to solve, what requirements exist for the overall solution, what benefits you expect (and a plan to measure them), and having a feasible plan to get there.

SIIM 2017 – Economics of Imaging Informatics

genadyknizhnik Healthcare IT, Radiology

I feel fortunate to chair a very interesting and relevant session during the SIIM 2017 annual meeting this week. The session will focus on the following areas, which are often discussed with clients and industry colleagues.

It seems that there is no well-defined formula or consensus regarding the staffing levels and the structure of an Imaging Informatics Team (IIT). Typical questions are:

  • How large should an IIT be, given the annual Radiology exam volume and number facilities the team supports?
  • In the era of EMRs and IT centralization, what is the right mix of roles between IIT and Corporate IT?
  • How does IT centralization affect IIT financial decision-making and budgets?

James Forrester’s talk will address the above topics, based on his experience at University of Rochester Medical Center.

Another interesting observation is that typically outside of the Director of IIT role, IIT members lack understanding of corporate finance. Even though most significant projects must be budgeted for in advance and any innovation or improvement proposal must be accompanied with a well-crafted business case. Robert (Bob) Coleman’s talk will provide an overview of proven budgeting methods, core components of a good business case, and the required skills to prepare one.

You may also wish to check out this interactive, whiteboard session, which will walk through some common financial models used to evaluate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI) for imaging IT projects when talking to the CIO.

Looking forward to seeing everybody in Pittsburgh!

SIIM 2017

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The Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) annual meeting will be held on Thu June 1 to Sat June 3, 2017 in Pittsburgh. It has a great program, and by all early accounts, will be one of the best attended in years. See the complete program here. Register to attend here.

Genady and I will be participating.

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Don K Dennison

Weighing the Options: Enterprise PACS vs. VNA for Enterprise-wide Archiving

Thursday, June 1 | 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Science & Innovation Pavilion | Exhibit Hall Theater
#AskIndustry Session

Sharing an imaging archive is generally a good thing, but should you implement one archive and connect multiple PACS and other imaging IT systems to it, or should you build an Enterprise PACS and consolidate your various PACS into it? We will get the perspective of vendor staff that are faced with these types of questions from their customers.

TCB: TCO to the CIO for the CIIP

Friday, June 2 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am
Room 301-302
Whiteboard

The ability of a CIIP to accurately model the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for imaging IT application investments and operating costs are critical to getting the support of the CIO, and to getting necessary funding.

In this interactive whiteboard session, “Taking Care of Business: Total Cost of Ownership to the Chief Information Officer for the Certified Imaging Informatics Professional”, attendees will be walked through two scenarios — Multiple PACS Replacement and Consolidation and Cost Model for Shared Enterprise Imaging Platform — by faculty experienced in financial analysis and cost model development.

Combining whiteboard discussion and review of some predefined spreadsheets that provide important calculations for each scenario, this session is intended to be highly interactive with Q&A throughout. The spreadsheets used in the session will be made available to members on the SIIM website following the annual meeting.

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Genady Knizhnik

Economics of Imaging Informatics

Friday, June 2 | 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Pittsburgh Ballroom B
Core Topic Session

Imaging informatics teams routinely embark on new projects and have to support their operations, which depend on the right budget. Budget preparation and justification skills, as well as understanding of the right size and structure of the operational team, are important for securing required financial support. Attendees will examine the fundamentals of preparing well-defined budget requests that CIOs are looking for, as well as how to structure and staff the optimal imaging informatics team.

Medical Imaging Informatics and Teleradiology (MIIT) 2017

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The 12th Annual Medical Imaging Informatics and Teleradiology (MIIT) meeting will be held on Friday April 28, 2017 at Liuna Station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This year’s theme is Enterprising Imaging and AI: Welcome to the Future and the program features many fascinating talks by thought leaders, including Drs. Eliot Siegel and Chris Roth.

MIIT 2017 has an all new interactive website and meeting app for increased attendee participation.

Genady and I will each be giving a talk.

Enterprise vs. Diagnostic: Image Viewers Converging?

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Don K Dennison

As web technologies evolve, the gap between Enterprise Viewers used primarily for accessing images as part of a patient’s electronic medical record and PACS Viewers used for primary diagnostic review is rapidly closing. But how close are they, really? This talk will explore the feasibility of Radiologists using a web viewer instead of a PACS for reading.

Managing Imaging in an EMR Centric Era
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Genady Knizhnik

As health systems converge on a common electronic medical record (EMR) system and longitudinal patient record, new requirements and expectations are placed on imaging records and the systems than manage them. This talk will explore the impact that the implementation of a modern EMR has on patient and procedure information within PACS, VNA, and other imaging IT systems.

Program and Registration

See the complete program here. Register to attend here.

Meeting Sponsorship Opportunities

Interested in sponsoring MIIT 2017? Read about the available sponsor packages here, or register as a sponsor here.

IHE Buyers’ Guide Updated for 2017

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Interactive IHE Buyers Guide

A new year and another update to the IHE Buyers’ Guide.

This update contains mostly minor changes in the form of some notes regarding some recent or pending updates to IHE integration profiles.

The most notable update is the addition of the Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Extension (DBT Extension) integration profile to the guide for Enterprise Viewer, PACS, and VNA products.

The IHE Buyers’ Guide is a valuable resource when using IHE integration profiles and actors to specify requirements in procurement processes, such as a Request for Proposal (RFP). It does not require you to enter any personal information and is free to use.

Dealing with Multiple Terminology Domains in a Consolidated Enterprise – Part 2

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In my previous post, Dealing with Multiple Terminology Domains in a Consolidated Enterprise, I introduced a typical challenge that many imaging projects face today.

In this post, I will describe three common use cases where the problem of multiple terminology domains manifests.

Single PACS, Multiple RIS

Often, rapidly growing health systems aim to consolidate imaging informatics solutions across their facilities. Replacement of multiple PACS with one such system, while keeping separate RIS systems in place is not uncommon. The reason behind this dichotomy is that a RIS is much more ingrained into the local Radiology department’s operational and clinical workflows than a PACS, making its replacement complex and impactful on many stakeholders.

The following diagram illustrates this scenario.

term-pacs

In such a deployment, the consolidated PACS is responsible for dealing with multiple ordering systems that use individual procedure terminologies. It also maintains patients’ longitudinal imaging record, which will include different values in the DICOM headers to describe the same procedure types.

Multiple RIS/PACS, Shared VNA

Health systems that seek to benefit from IT infrastructure consolidation, as well as a single Imaging Record Management, Archive, Access, and Sharing application, often opt to procure and deploy a shared VNA system across their facilities. By keeping their RIS/PACS systems in place they can rapidly deliver clinical and operational benefits with minimal disruption to the existing workflows. This approach allows individual facilities to stay fairly independent in their imaging informatics system and process decision making.

The following diagram illustrates this scenario.

term-vna

In this deployment, the shared VNA typically maps or normalizes procedure terminologies in the DICOM header of the studies that are served to the individual PACS systems as part of the relevant prior pre-/push-fetch workflows.

Single PACS, Single RIS

An increasingly common scenario is when health systems include a RIS consolidation project within their EMR consolidation strategy, while PACS consolidation happens in parallel. This approach results in a single master set of orderable procedures that is used by all participating facilities. The challenge arises from the fact that historic imaging records maintain, in the DICOM data, procedure information using historic terminology values that predate consolidation and can include known values (from the latest RIS) or some potentially unknown value (previous RIS systems for the institutions that replaced their RIS system at least once and did not replace the values with one used by the new RIS).

The following diagram illustrates this scenario.

term-rispng

In these deployments, the consolidated PACS is responsible for dealing with new common and fragmented historic procedure terminologies.

In the next post, I will describe how PACS and VNA vendors deal with this challenge.