NovaRad sees RIS/PACS as key to cutting expenses, adding revenue

As other medical  imaging vendors are tightening their belts,  NovaRad  is  racking up sales, installing five to eight  RIS/PACS a month. And it’s not a passing  thing, according to Paul Shumway,  NovaRad vice president of operations and  marketing. He expects the firm to maintain  this pace through 2009. The reason? The company’s RIS/PACS help hospitals and  imaging facilities minimize costs and maximize  profits. 

“People are looking for ways to save money  and to make money,” Shumway said. “Our  products do that.” 

The NovaRad PACS is easy to install, use,  and learn. It doesn’t require a big IT department,  a full-time PACS administrator, or  even an IT staff to administer. Its RIS is similarly  easy to handle. “And it helps facilities  manage their workflow and run their business  better,” he said. 

Because time means money, the company’s latest release, a combined  NovaRIS/NovaPACS 7.1 release, adds features that improve  productivity. Automatic hanging protocol  options allow two different protocols for  viewing a single study alone or alongside a  comparison study, an image series to start  in cine, multiplanar reformatting, or other  advanced formats. Also, the same study  can be manipulated or viewed in different  windows or levels.

New controls for faster scrolling eliminate  the need to scroll through every image, allowing  huge data sets to be processed more  quickly. 

“There is a need for radiologists to be more  efficient,” Shumway said. “They need to  have fast turnaround times because the lifeblood  of any facility is to recruit and maintain  a base of referring physicians, and there  is no reason why a facility can’t accelerate  report turnaround times.” 

RIS management reports show where a facility  is making money and where it isn’t. 

“If you are going to buy a new modality, you  should know which modality makes you  the most money,” he said. “If you want to  grow your business, you should know who  is sending referrals or why a particular referring  physician stops sending patients.” 

NovaPACS/RIS is sold as a turnkey solution  under a service contract that covers  software, support, and upgrades for a flat  monthly fee based on a facility’s annual image load.