The current enterprise viewer used for diagnostic images (WebPACS) that launches from MiChart will be replaced next year. Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) plans to deploy the new viewer, Mach7, initially with McKesson in the summer of 2021 and then with the new Sectra PACS in the fall of 2021.
“Michigan Medicine has outgrown the capabilities of its PACS system over time through growth and through the addition of Michigan Medicine non-radiology system storage. Performance and reliability became problematic and the system architecture was challenging for us to support,” said Kenneth Buckwalter, professor of radiology.
The enterprise viewer replacement, eUnity, will improve the display of diagnostic images across the enterprise. The eUnity Imaging Suite will show images from the new Sectra PACS and Enterprise Archive. This project will replace the existing systems into one new common infrastructure, allowing staff to view radiology, cardiology, and ophthalmology images associated with a patient all within the patient’s record.
“The incoming Sectra PACS is known for its rock solid reliability and the architecture is compatible with Michigan Medicine standards, simplifying support. Additionally, using a single vendor for enterprise imaging and PACS will eliminate incompatibilities between systems and streamline vendor management,” Buckwalter said.
HITS has just begun the implementation process. There is ongoing work behind the scenes to program and prepare backend systems for the change. The project team is currently engaging clinicians and staff to understand which tools work well and which tools are lacking to balance complexity and ease of use for implementation. Survey responses were gathered and HITS is working to analyze that data.
“We are very excited to deploy these systems to ensure we have a firm foundation upon which to build our system imaging infrastructure. Any image, anywhere, anytime is our mantra,” Buckwalter said.
More information on project status, deployment dates and training will be forthcoming as the implementation moves forward. Please see the Clinical Enterprise Imaging (CEI) project page for the most current information.
