Princeton Orthopaedic Using AccessMED to Tame Workload, Cut Costs

Challenge

After making the switch to digital X-ray, Princeton Orthopaedic Associates (POA), P.A., began accumulating a large number of images and needed a solution to manage the volume.

Solution

After using the scaled down version of Aspyra PACS technology that came with its modality equipment, POA decided to purchase Aspyra's full AccessMED specialty PACS (picture archive and communications systems) solution.

Results

The last component of AccessMED was installed on a Friday, and POA became a filmless facility by the following Monday, saving the organization more than $100,000 a year in film and processing costs.

Princeton Orthopaedic Associates (POA) is an orthopedic group practice with 12 surgeons, two podiatrists, two physiatrists and seven physician assistants. POA began evaluating PACS technology shortly after the practice replaced two old X-ray units with digital radiography units. As the digital images began accumulating, POA realized that its image and file management requirements surpassed the capabilities of the software that came with the digital X-ray units. However, the software that was bundled with the x-ray units is what led POA to Aspyra.

“Our two digital X-ray units came with a scaled-down version of Aspyra's AccessMED PACS solution, and our clinicians quickly became accustomed to using it,” said William Hyncik, Jr., ATC, who is one of POA's directors. “Although we evaluated other PACS vendors, Aspyra offered the capabilities that we needed and our clinicians already had some familiarity with the system, which would decrease the learning curve.”

The AccessMED PACS solution that POA selected is specifically designed to accommodate the unique workflow patterns and information technology needs of medical specialists and specialty clinics. AccessMED provides full PACS capabilities and offers various modules for specialists, such as Orthoview™ for digital prosthetic templates, and ImageSTITCH for combining multiple images into a single image for review.

POA, with four X-ray units at three separate facilities, installed its first AccessMED solution in January 2005, converting the other units in March, April and September of the same year. “We literally finished installing the last components on a Friday afternoon, and on Monday we were an entirely filmless organization,” said Robert Simpson, Jr., one of POA's directors. “Connecting the main PACS server to our other facility was easy. We basically installed the server at the remote site, and it automatically forwarded the images to our main server. It was that easy.

“Our X-ray units used to be a limiting factor in the number of patients that our practice could see each say, but with AccessMED, that is no longer the case,” Simpson said. “X-ray is no longer a bottleneck in our patient throughput, and the images are much easier for our clinicians to access. AccessMED has made our previously unmanageable workload become suddenly manageable.”