There is more than big OEM hardware on display at RSNA 2005. The Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting is also an important showcase for smaller OEMs and for software solutions. (RSNA will be held in Chicago November 27 - December 2.)

Case in point is DR Systems, headquartered in San Diego, Calif., an independent provider of RIS/PACS solutions including film-free medical systems and paperless information systems for diagnostic imaging centers and hospitals. The company will be exhibiting its unified RIS/PACS platform with enhanced EMR integration, mammography PACS capabilities, and improved RIS features. These improvements and others are part of the company's next software release, version 8, available in the U.S. in 2006. (DR Systems will be at RSNA Booth 2751 in the South Building, Hall A in McCormick Place, Chicago from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1.)

"Our mission is to enhance the clinical and financial success of our customers, while offering the lowest overall cost of ownership in the industry" said Murray Reicher, M.D., chairman and cofounder of DR Systems. "With Version 8, we are taking another step in integrating medical imaging with the EMR and establishing even greater scalability, easier maintenance, and even better security for our customers."
New features of the system include: extended scalability with the capacity for at least one million immediate online records, as well as millions more records available within seconds; enhanced patient management tools for the RIS, including web-based scheduling for referring doctors, patient tracking, output to billing systems, film tracking and new management reports; full integration of mammography PACS capabilities with new diagnostic reading tools; WebLaunch for easy, single sign-on integration capability with other HIS's or EMR's. (Caregivers can log-on to their HIS to access a patient's record and launch images with appropriate documents, notes and hear an audio summary), expanded web capabilities and other integration and support features.

For more information about DR Systems, Inc., call 800-794-5955 or visit www.dominator.com.

CTs by GE Healthcare

Meanwhile, the OEMs remain a major attraction at the event. A large number of hospitals are still using single-slice CT technology today, according to GE Healthcare. At RSNA, GE will introduce a new family of products that focus on these customers. A new series of scanners will bring the advances of the LightSpeed VCT to a broader audience, such as community hospitals and outpatient imaging centers.

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