| Customer Stories
Southcoast Medical Imaging Group
“We have seen absolutely no increase in reading times with MergeMammo™. All of the mammographers agree on this—even my most skeptical peer was thrilled with the solution. We have all had the same experience: our reading times are the same or even slightly faster.”
Situation
Southcoast Medical Imaging Group is worthy of envy from several aspects. First of all, it is located in sunny and beautiful Savannah, GA. This location is complimented by the full range of modalities available at Southcoast. The center contains MRI, CT, plain film DR, fluoro, angio, ultrasound, bone densitometry and a nuclear camera. A 64 slice CT will be added in the next year as well. In addition, Southcoast is the only outpatient full service imaging center in the region. These attributes bring about 200 patients a day into the center, and have created a busy and successful imaging enterprise.
Southcoast began moving to digital imaging almost from the opening of the center six years ago. However, other modalities took precedence over mammography. “We wanted to get CT and MR set up first,” explains Dr. Patricia Shapiro, one of the radiologist-owners of SouthCoast Medical Group. “Plus, the digital mammography units are very expensive. We are physician owned and have our own money involved in this. Because of this, we needed to get the center profitable first, in order to decrease the risk of investing in digital mammography.”
Requirements
When Southcoast started evaluating digital mammography software, the most important requirement was a vendor-neutral solution. “We needed the software to be non-proprietary so we will not have to buy a second workstation if we get an additional mammography unit,” says Dr. Shapiro. In addition, Southcoast builds all their own workstations, so a software-only solution was essential.
One of the reasons Southcoast considered MergeMammo was its previous success with other Merge Healthcare solutions. “We implemented the Fusion PACS in 2003,” states Dr. Shapiro. “Having the PACS really helped our workflow in taking the various modalities digital, and gave us confidence in moving to digital mammography as well.” The Fusion RIS was added in 2005. “The RIS is a godsend,” she adds. “It’s amazing how our efficiency has increased with this solution. Our scheduling times went from 25 minutes a patient down to less than 9 minutes.” This positive relationship with Merge Healthcare provided some good groundwork for adding new solutions
Solution
Southcoast selected the MergeMammo digital mammography software solution from Merge Healthcare. Loaded on the mammography workstation, this solution compliments the digital mammography modality. All mammograms at Southcoast now move from the modality to the computer screen, where they can be reviewed and a report dictated. Post processing tools such as CAD are applied as needed. Images are then stored within the system.
Result
The biggest surprise in implementing the MergeMammo solution was its lack of impact on radiologist workflow. “All the radiologists had the perception that digital mammography would slow them down,” says Dr. Shapiro. “We were tremendously surprised by MergeMammo. If anything, we are reading slightly faster now.”
The solution itself also delighted Southcoast. Dr. Shapiro sums up the functionality: “The image quality is better than analog especially for breast calcifications, the speed from the modality is fast and the digital storage means we no longer waste time searching for misfiled studies. We are now totally filmless in the center, except for prior mammograms,” she adds.
MergeMammo contains all the tools needed for efficient review. “Mammographers need to be efficient. We use a small number of important tools. Software programs with lots of ‘toys’ just create unnecessary distractions,” says Dr. Shapiro. Implementation was also happily straightforward for Southcoast. The solutions were loaded quickly, and then protocols were set up for each radiologist. Dr. Shapiro says, “We are definitely flying and got off the ground very easily.”
Dr. Shapiro also enjoys the ongoing relationship with Merge Healthcare. “MergeMammo is an extremely functional solution. However, we do have ideas for new features and functionality. I know Merge Healthcare will listen to my ideas and do their best to incorporate these into future releases. I look forward to the complete integration of all our Merge Healthcare solutions.
| PLUGINS |
 You will need Acrobat Reader to view special items on this page. If you have not installed this free software on your computer, it can be downloaded directly from the Adobe website. |
 |
| You may need the Powerpoint Viewer to view some presentations. If you don't have Powerpoint, click here to download the Powerpoint viewer for Windows. |
|
