About Partners Imaging Centers
Founded in 2006, Partners Imaging Centers (PIC) is a seven?center radiology practice that reads 60,000 studies per year. Owned and operated by two founding-partner radiologists, the group’s network is based on the west coast of Florida and includes an MRI center, an MRI & CT center, a breast diagnostic center and four additional centers that offer four or more modalities.
IntelePACS Proves Smart Choice for Enterprise-Wide Imaging Platform
The PIC relationship with Intelerad dates back to the earliest days of the practice in 2006, when its founders selected and deployed IntelePACS at the group’s single, initial location. In the years that followed, as PIC expanded operations both organically and through acquisition, IntelePACS easily accommodated the growth of the practice.
Today, IntelePACS is central to daily operations, serving as the group’s enterprise-wide imaging platform for its full network of imaging centers. The group’s six highly experienced subspecialists use IntelePACS to read 60,000 studies a year.
“With IntelePACS deployed across all seven imaging centers, we are able to operate very efficiently,” said Nigel de Wit, PIC chief operating officer. “It is so critical to have a common platform across all locations, and IntelePACS is very quick and efficient.”
Distributed Architecture Facilitates Growth, Promotes Mobility
IntelePACS is built upon Intelerad’s distributed architecture, which ensures image and data integrity, high availability and performance. This architecture has facilitated the practice’s expansion, preserving performance benchmarks and providing mobility to the radiologists.
“Our radiologists can use IntelePACS in the same capacity from any of our centers or a remote location,” said de Wit. “This is a big advantage. It is one of the many reasons our radiologists are so positive about the solution.”
IntelePACS Drives Productivity and Provides Return on Investment
De Wit credits IntelePACS’ high performance as well as its easy-to-use, fully-featured viewer, InteleViewer, for driving the individual productivity of the six radiologists who serve all seven imaging centers. IntelePACS enables PIC to increase market share and remain competitive, despite fluctuating healthcare market conditions and ongoing cost-control pressures.
“At the end of the day, my focus is on productivity,” de Wit said. “IntelePACS allows our radiologists to read more cases per day. This means the system is paying for itself.”
Increased Efficiency Minimizes Turnaround, Saves Lives
The increased radiologist efficiency and productivity results in higher levels of patient care, because PIC radiologists can complete interpretations and provide reports to referring physicians with minimized turnaround time. In certain cases, this efficiency can make a life-saving difference.
“We've had situations where the radiologist has performed a read that identified a serious issue requiring immediate attention from the physician,” said de Wit. “If we didn't have such an efficient PACS system, the patient may have had to wait. You’re talking about life and death in some cases.”
Solid Reliability and World-Class Support Set Intelerad Apart
IntelePACS’ reliability plays a key role in enabling the productivity, efficiency, and high levels of patient care that PIC has attained. “We need a system that is rock solid,” de Wit said. IntelePACS assures critical business continuity, eliminating concerns about downtime.
Intelerad’s world-class support is another key advantage of the business relationship. De Wit cited the wide range of support personnel expertise, as well as 24x7 availability, as key differentiators. “Intelerad’s support services are really excellent,” he said. “The support team is extremely capable and a tremendous benefit of using Intelerad solutions.”
Intelerad Service Expertise Provides High Business Value
The advantage of an expert support team goes beyond troubleshooting. As the business has expanded, PIC has leveraged Intelerad’s service expertise to ensure smooth deployments. “I like the idea of a team that can assist you with migrations and integrations,” said de Wit. “That is a very valuable resource.”
After building a single imaging center into a highly successful network of seven locations over eight years, PIC founders are extremely happy that they selected Intelerad to provide the practice’s medical imaging technology backbone. “We are extremely satisfied with the Intelerad offering,” de Wit said.