USAF Selects PACS Data Center to Support Worldwide Medical Record Needs

U.S. Air Force (USAF) is utilizing a picture archiving and communication system (PACS)-neutral archive that visualize the electronic health record (EHR) and allows access to consolidated imaging data at point of care.

Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Belgium), a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare information technology (IT) systems, announced that the USAF has selected Agfa HealthCare's Impax Data Center to manage and share clinical information and images across all of the USAF's medical facilities in the United States, supporting USAF's integrated global healthcare delivery system. The data center, a PACS vendor-neutral repository of clinical imaging data, will be installed at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base (AFB), CA, USA, and at the 375th Medical Group at Scott AFB, IL, USA.

The Impax Data Center integrates with existing PACS in multiple clinical departments and facilities, allowing the USAF to visualize, or image-enable, its EHR and consolidating clinical patient data into a single archive, accessible from the point of care. Compliant with the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) 3.0, Health level (HL) 7 standards, and the Integrating the Health Enterprise (IHE) Technical Framework standards for storage, ImpaxData Center can integrate with any DICOM 3.0 standards-based PACS.

The management of clinical imaging data from multiple sites and facilities is problematic because each location typically chooses its own PACS to meet its specific technology and workflow needs. Multisite organizations frequently must deal with fragmented data that is "locked in" to disparate departmental data silos and therefore only accessible to users at that site. The Impax Data Center allows an organization to create a shared "system of record" for the complete patient imaging history, consolidating imaging records from many sources, and providing longitudinal access to this information.

"With multiple medical sites and an extremely mobile patient base, it's critical that all Air Force medical staff have access to all patient images and related information, regardless of the facility or department or origin," said Tom Lewis, director, Air Force PACS Office. "Impax Data Center will allow physicians at our medical treatment facilities to access patient imaging data that was acquired its other sites."

In addition to enhanced delivery of patient care, the data center will result in cost savings associated with operating and maintaining multiple PACS. It can reduce the cost of maintaining multiple departmental image archives and the expensive and time-consuming data migrations associated with periodic PACS and infrastructure replacements.

The data center archiving solution is part of the USAF's strategy to create a truly integrated global healthcare delivery system. The USAF plans to ultimately connect all of its medical treatment facilities to a global Impax Data Center model. "The Air Force and other branches of the armed services are pioneering the use of technology to meet the challenges of medical imaging in a complex multisite healthcare environment," said Tim Artz, Global Government program director Agfa HealthCare. "Healthcare networks in the private sector that face similar challenges can look to the Air Force as a leader in creating a more efficient and cost-effective healthcare system."

Agfa HealthCare has developed a strong presence in U.S. military and Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals and medical treatment facilities, which use its digital radiography (CR) systems, Impax image management solutions, and speech recognition solutions. The company's technology is installed in more than 160 military and VA facilities, including 14 sites in Europe, five of the VA's multi-facility Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), and more than 30 Navy ships.

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

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