What Functions to Look For in a Mammography Viewer

If you manage a mammography imaging center, you understand that the bottom line is dependent on quick, accurate turnover of good quality digital images. One way to make sure that your center does not lose money is to invest in a mammography viewer that makes use of teleradiology.

Doing More With Less

Due to the nature of the profit-driven health care system in the U.S. and the incredible expenses and debt burden incurred by medical students, fewer and fewer doctors are going into less well-paying specialties such as radiology; while the demand for qualified radiologists is increasing by approximately 15% a year, the annual number of such specialists is growing by only 2% .

Teleradiology is simply the ability to send medical images to remote locations over the World Wide Web. Through teleradiology, a mammography imaging center can transfer such images to any other clinic in the world.

In addition, teleradiology capability will allow multiple viewers to study an image at the same time, facilitating consultation and faster, more accurate diagnoses.

Another benefit of teleradiology is that it enables the clinic to easily archive images in a remote location, making backup and disaster recovery much easier should the unthinkable happen.

Is It Customizable?

Another feature one should consider in a mammography viewer is the ability of the user(s) to customize its image retrieval functions. Every center has different needs and methods; when images can be searched and retrieved based on user-defined parameters, the result is a more efficient workflow and faster turnaround time.

User-Friendly?

It goes without saying that a mammography viewer that is easy to use will result in cost savings. A more complex system may run faster, but if it is necessary for staff to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with a steep learning curve, it will cause cost more in the long run.