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Summary. This page contains excerpts from an article about financial savings for radiology processing costs when using Apple computer-based systems. [source]
Dr. Hilton Bakker, who founded Rural Radiology Consultants, trained in Minneapolis and Michigan but always wanted to practice in his home town of Bemidji. He began his professional career at Bemidji’s North County Regional Hospital.
When he decided to go into private practice, several rural hospitals in the district – one of them 200 miles from Bemidji – made it known that they wanted his services. His challenge was creating a way to serve them efficiently from his home.
Bakker focused on identifying a solution that was cost-effective and reliable. Costs for archive storage, workstations, and integration drive the price of a Windows-based PACS (picture archiving and communication system) up to $400,000. Bakker had been running a Windows Client-based Intelerad PACS that belonged to the hospital, but was interested in the Mac, which had switched to the Intel chip. Powerful medical imaging software was available for Mac OS X, and with applications such as VMware Fusion the Mac could run any Windows applications he needed.
“I spent $40,000 and I have a PACS that people spend $400,000 for,” says Bakker. “And it’s better. But the really nice thing is, I can help small hospitals to get into PACS with minimal cost. A little hospital that can’t afford a PACS can access images through an iMac, download OsiriX Pro, and look at images. The iMac can route those studies to me. My own hardware costs were so reasonable that I can offer to store their images at no cost.” … “Most DICOM workstations are $100,000 or more and a Mac running OsiriX Pro is less expensive and better than any diagnostic workstation – in my opinion.” [Read More…]