ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 28 — Clalit Health Services’ recent implementation of Carestream Health's proven healthcare IT systems—including PACS and clinical data archiving capabilities—has resulted in benefits to the patient and physician communities that far exceeded expectations and dramatically improved the flow of radiology information among Clalit’s caregivers.
At Clalit, the CARESTREAM Vue PACS and Vue Archive—with a new Vue RIS to be completed in 2011—are managing information for more than five million procedures annually. The ability to centrally manage patient information, while simultaneously allowing real-time access from any location, has led to important improvements in patient care and increased operating efficiency for Clalit.
“This innovative technology gives us a new perspective on how to better treat our patients and continually improve the level of care we provide,” said Eli Defes, CEO, Clalit Health Services. “PACS is not only an IT tool anymore, it is a trusted medical solution that provides us with valuable tools in our daily practice.”
Clalit also implemented Vue Connect, powered by CARESTREAM SuperPACS™ Architecture so that radiology and patient information can be shared easily across the multi-site, multi-domain enterprise. While each hospital and imaging center continues to manage its own imaging data, Vue Connect enables Clalit’s radiology staff to provide sub-specialty reading and consultation across the entire healthcare system. The enterprise workflow architecture delivers a global patient worklist while maintaining synchronization with each local PACS system, which helps improve efficiency.
“Our vision was to employ a multi-site, multi-domain PACS to improve patient care and service,” said Dr. Ziv Rosenbaum, Director of Medical Technology for Clalit. “The SuperPACS technology has been able to cater a robust and scalable platform in our organization."
"It is amazing to see how well SuperPACS technology manages a tremendous amount of complex clinical information by hundreds of users everyday,” said Dr. Arnon Makori, Radiologist and PACS Project Manager for Clalit.
Carestream’s scalable IT systems have been deployed to serve all Clalit hospitals and imaging centers. Regardless of where a patient is treated, the staff can access full and consolidated patient images and related information. Clalit’s referring physician community has benefitted from having all relevant patient information at their desktop, enabling faster, more accurate diagnosis.
In a recent critical situation, a critically injured teenager was brought to a local Clalit hospital where an imaging exam revealed intracranial hemorrhage. He was then flown to a tertiary care center that could deal with this severe level of head trauma, and the medical team on the ground at the tertiary care center had access to the images and could assemble a team and a plan of action before he even landed.
Israel's Clalit Health Services is the world’s second largest HMO, delivering outstanding patient care through a nationwide network of 14 hospitals, 39 imaging centers, 1,400 clinics, 400 pharmacies, 37 children’s health centers and 32 women’s health centers to more than four million members.
Carestream has implemented some of the largest RIS/PACS solutions in the world, including some of the world’s largest HMOs, independent healthcare networks, regional and national healthcare organizations. The company’s Vendor Neutral Archive enables a second generation of imaging IT workflow that includes advanced imaging tools for orthopedic, mammography, cardiology and oncology applications.
“Our enterprise imaging management solution provides smooth and reliable access to patient-centric imaging records while delivering superior enterprise-level workflow management—which is exactly what customers are looking for in a healthcare IT solution,” said Elad Benjamin, General Manager, Healthcare Information Solutions, Carestream Health. “Enabling healthcare professionals at Clalit to collaborate seamlessly across multiple sites and multiple clinical specialties is helping to improve patient care. This project has been a real success story for everyone involved.”
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About Carestream Health
Carestream Health is a worldwide provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions; molecular imaging systems for life science research and drug discovery/development; x-ray film and digital x-ray systems for non-destructive testing; and advanced materials for the precision films and electronics markets.
For more information about the company’s broad portfolio of products, solutions and services, please contact your Carestream Health representative or visit www.carestream.com.
CARESTREAM is a trademark of Carestream Health.
2011
About Clalit Health Services
Clalit Health Services, the leading and major health maintenance organization in Israel and the second largest HMO worldwide, provides comprehensive healthcare services to more than 4 million customers, or 53% of Israel's population. Clalit's facilities and services include 1,400 community clinics, 14 hospitals, 400 pharmacies, dozens of laboratories, research institutes and subsidiaries that provide diagnostic imaging, dentistry, complementary medicine, aesthetic medicine and medical equipment maintenance services. As the largest civil employer in Israel, Clalit has approximately 33,000 employees including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, laboratory/imaging technicians and administrative staff. For more information please visit http://www.clalit.co.il/HE-IL/english