January 4, 2022 — Rome Radiology Group (RRG), based in Rome, Ga., became the first member of the national Strategic Radiology (SR) coalition of independent private radiology practices to opt into the SR Enterprise PACS license for IntelePACS and Clario SmartWorklist from Intelerad Medical Systems, a global leader in medical image management solutions. RRG, which includes 15 subspecialized radiologists, is the primary provider of radiology services in Northwest Georgia.
“Approaching any of the PACS vendors entails a considerable amount of cost for the size of our radiology practice,” explained Dan Phillips, M.D., neuroradiologist and breast imaging subspecialist with RRG. “By leveraging all of SR’s potential member groups, we appreciated cost savings and improved support through SR membership.”
The practice, which serves seven hospitals in Northwest Georgia and five outpatient imaging centers, went live with its first hospital implementation in October of 2021, achieving an estimated 36% savings through the SR Enterprise License agreement. RGG is currently prepping to implement PACS at an additional hospital in February 2022. By implementing with the SR Enterprise PACS license, RRG shares cost of system ownership—including servers, bandwidth, and access to IT expertise—to drive down costs to individual practices.
According to Dr. Phillips, RRG had dual objectives in implementing enterprise PACS: distribute imaging studies across a single platform to maximize subspecialization and improve access to relevant prior studies across disparate information systems, driving quality and improving patient care.
“PACS is a mission critical tool for radiology practices that strive to maintain quality and efficiency in a consolidating hospital market, but costs of an enterprise solution can be prohibitive for smaller groups,” said Scott Bundy, M.D., Chair and CEO, Strategic Radiology. “It is gratifying that Strategic Radiology played a role in facilitating the goals of member practice Rome Radiology Group by executing this program with Intelerad.”
For more information: www.strategicradiology.org