Audubon County Memorial Using PACS Solution Instead of Expanding Film Storage

Challenge

With film storage space nearing capacity, the Audubon County Memorial Hospital (ACMH) had two options: build additional storage that would once again fill up, or invest in digital imaging.

Solution

ACMH turned to Aspyra for its AccessNET™ PACS and clinical image management solutions.

Results

Immediately following implementation, film costs were reduced by $65,000 per year and the Aspyra solutions enabled ACMH to use teleradiology to expedite the reading of images by remote radiologists.

Audubon County Memorial Hospital is a 25-bed, acute-care facility established in 1952 that provides both inpatient and outpatient services. The rural location of ACMH, roughly 90 miles west of Des Moines, made it an ideal candidate for technology that would facilitate teleradiology.

The decision to move toward a picture archiving communications system (PACS) made sense for ACMH from a financial and efficiency perspective. Since the go-live of the Aspyra solutions in January 2004, ACMH has been an entirely filmless facility, with the exception of film used for mammograms.

“It would have cost us about $20,000 to remodel and buy additional shelves for our film storage room. We thought that money could be better spent on a PACS solution,” said Troy Schoon, director of Radiology for ACMH.

Better spent, indeed. The costs of film, storage, processing chemicals, and equipment maintenance were immediately reduced by $65,000 per year. “Our hard-cost savings alone mean that we'll realize a complete return on our Aspyra investment in less than three-and-a-half years. And, achieving ROI would even be faster if we factored in soft-cost savings,” Schoon added.

The imaging needs of ACMH's 25 beds and emergency room are handled by a single Aspyra reading station. Before the PACS solution was implemented, radiologists from Des Moines would visit ACMH twice a week to read films and dictate reports. With the PACS solution in place, images are immediately sent to Des Moines for reading, which has eliminated the need for radiologists to visit ACMH every week. The teleradiology capabilities have greatly improved report turnaround time, decreased radiologist travel time, and reduced the need to transport patients to other facilities for imaging needs.

“We'll see even more cost savings next year as we downsize the image processor that we use for mammography films,” Schoon said. “This will reduce our chemical and equipment maintenance costs, which is yet another component of the ROI that we're able to realize as a result of our investment with Aspyra.”