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A picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is an electronic and ideally filmless information system for acquiring, sorting, transporting, storing, and electronically displaying medical images. PACS have developed rapidly and are in operation in a number of hospitals. Before widespread adoption of PACSs can occur, however, their cost-effectiveness must be proven. This article introduces the basic components of a PACS. The current PACS cost-analysis literature is reviewed. Some authors conclude [...]

Administrative records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the National Death Index were linked to create a four-year longitudinal database that describes the clinical status, hospital and nursing home use, and mortality for a nationwide cohort of persons admitted to DVA nursing homes (n = 23,039). Using Social Security Numbers as identifiers, the records of only 6% of these persons had logically inconsistent or implausible patterns. Nineteen percent [...]

Development of methods for building concept models to support structured data entry and image retrieval in chest radiography.

The Canon Group is an informal organization of medical informatics researchers who are working on the problem of developing a "deeper" representation formalism for use in exchanging data and developing applications. Individuals in the group represent experts in such areas as knowledge representation and computational linguistics, as well as in a variety of medical subdisciplines. All share the view that current mechanisms for the characterization of medical phenomena are either [...]

To design and develop a computer-based health-care record system to address the needs of the patients and providers of a homeless population.

Develop a representation of clinical observations and actions and a method of processing free-text patient documents to facilitate applications such as quality assurance.

Direct computer-based physician order entry has been the subject of debate for over 20 years. Many sites have implemented systems successfully. Others have failed outright or flirted with disaster, incurring substantial delays, cost overruns, and threatened work actions. The rationale for physician order entry includes process improvement, support of cost-conscious decision making, clinical decision support, and optimization of physicians' time. Barriers to physician order entry result from the changes required [...]