McKesson sees strong momentum in medical imaging solutions
10 June 2005
Atlanta, Ga, USA. McKesson has announced that it has signed a record 28
new customers for its medical imaging solutions since January. The company
also said that it had completed 15 installations in the same time period.
During McKesson's last fiscal year, which ended March 31, the number of
exams read using its Horizon Medical Imaging picture archiving and
communication system (PACS) increased approximately 40%.
"We have seen tremendous growth over the past year for our Horizon
Medical Imaging PACS," said Roderick O'Reilly, vice president and general
manager of McKesson's Medical Imaging Group. "Customers recognize that our
systems can provide an immediate benefit in terms of improved workflow
efficiency and patient care. And we're continually investing in innovative
PACS technology such as our Horizon Rad Station™ workstation platform, which
handles multi-slice image sets, diverse modalities, and specialized viewing
and analysis applications."
Horizon Medical Imaging combines PACS functionality with seamless
"anytime, anywhere" access to images and patient information. The solution
streamlines processes, helps reduce overhead costs and enhances
communication with referring physicians, leading to better, safer patient
care.
One of the largest sites to implement Horizon Medical Imaging was 650-bed
regional referral centre North Mississippi Medical Center, in Tupelo, Miss.
It is the largest hospital in Mississippi and the largest non-metropolitan
hospital in America. The medical centre serves more than 650,000 people in
22 counties in north Mississippi, northwest Alabama and portions of
Tennessee. Its eight radiology locations on the main campus and five other
sites at affiliate hospitals handle 250,000 exams annually.
"We selected McKesson's Horizon Medical Imaging to help us improve
quality and efficiency at our facility, which is spread out over a large
geographic area," said Tommy Bozeman, vice president and chief information
officer for North Mississippi Medical Center. "McKesson's PACS enables us to
incorporate medical imaging into our electronic patient record, making
information readily available to clinicians for faster, more informed
decision making -- and ultimately, higher quality of care."
Bozeman added that the installation process went very smoothly. "McKesson
understood our needs and delivered on all of its promises," he said. "The
implementation was excellent, and our radiologists and referring physicians
have embraced the new technology. We've already seen a 50 percent decrease
in turnaround from the time the exam is complete until the radiologist
interprets the results."
In addition to strong sales momentum, customer satisfaction with Horizon
Medical Imaging has been consistently high, with KLAS scores among the top
three in its category for service and installation over the past four years.
The high marks are due in part to McKesson's world-class support
organization, which provides personalized customer support and complete
installations within approximately 90 days of contract signing.
Jordan Hospital, a 139-bed, not-for-profit community hospital in
Plymouth, Mass., that performs 120,000 radiology exams per year, recently
experienced McKesson's commitment to the customer experience firsthand
during a system go-live. "The McKesson team was phenomenal," said Jim
Murray, PACS project manager. "They helped us with training whenever and
wherever we needed them. Our IT department was impressed with the ease of
installation — it lived up to what we heard during the selection process.
Our radiologists agree that McKesson is the best PACS product because of the
flexibility to customize the workstation for each user. And senior
management is pleased that McKesson's vision supports our goals of expanding
the PACS to other departments such as cardiology and endoscopy."
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