Taking the lead in healthcare IT is all about executing on a vision to       create seamless connectivity of all imaging and patient information      systems to enable comprehensive, well-organized patient data to flow to    the caregiver, whenever it is needed. That's a tall order, but here you'll     learn more about 10 healthcare facilities and networks that are      succeeding. They have invested in digital imaging, IT and the technical      and human infrastructure to connect devices, physicians and             referring physicians - and then get information back to the patient for      quick diagnosis and treatment.

This year's nominations were accepted from June 10th through July         22nd. Two hundred and eighty nine qualified forms were                  received, representing more than 550 healthcare facilities. Among the    factors differentiating the winners were percentage of facility that is         filmless, percentage of procedures that are digital, the number of      modalities and departments that send and utilize images from PACS and      the ability of in-network physicians and referring physicians to             access electronic images. Believe us, the competition was furious. And      here are the winners - plus a series of honorable mention facilities         broken down into six categories: Heart Hospitals, Children's Hospitals,      IDNs, Imaging Centers, Municipality-Owned Hospitals and Small Hospitals.
 

September 2005 - South Florida Medical Imaging (SFMI)    
Boca Raton, Fla.    

This small specialty imaging facility with fewer than 25 employees is a     leader in outpatient angiography and computed tomography          angiography (CTA) - performing eight to 10 CTAs each day. Patients       come from Florida and the southeast region.

Each year, the facility completes between 10,000 and 24,000               images procedures, more than 90 percent of them being digital. The       facility also is more than 90 percent filmless. Thanks to RIS and PACS, a majority of staff physicians and referring physicians have access to        digital images as well. It is linked to five area hospitals.

SFMI serves as a training center for industry professionals interested in learning more about CTA. The facility utilizes 16-slice CT               technology, supported by sophisticated diagnostic software and         interfaced with a full-featured PACS to acquire, interpret and store        these images from these procedures. The images are rendered in a 3D    format with full rotation and annotation capabilities. The facility also       makes use of speech recognition software.


HONORABLE MENTIONS: Municipality-Owned Hospitals