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In looking for different solutions, Marlborough Hospital wanted to avoidtraditional time- and cost-intensive approaches, which required steep learningcurves, major IT intervention and purchasing special-purpose telecom links.The Hospital turned to AG Mednet to meet these distinct requirements.
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A member of UMass Memorial Medical Center, the largest health care systemin Central and Western Massachusetts, Marlborough Hospital treatsapproximately 100,000 outpatients between its emergency room and variousdiagnostic laboratories and imaging facilities every year. The hospitalcontracts with three full-time radiologists, as well as a number of part-timephysicians used to supplement the hospital's available capacity.
Marlborough Hospital underwent a major upgrade its imaging capabilities,moving to 100 percent digital and updating their PACS. One of the issues thisupgrade presented was the ability to move images in and out of the facility,particularly important for nighttime teleradiology needs. Previously, itwould take more than 10 minutes to upload images via the hospital's existingVPN. This was an unacceptable service level for the hospital, particularly inregard to more sophisticated studies such as multi-detector CT scans, whichare often made up of more than 1,500 separate images.
By utilizing the AG Mednet network, Marlborough Hospital has HIPAA-compliant secure access to multiple outside institutions that provide themwith emergency radiology coverage and to offsite 3D post-processing of multi-slice CTs -- just as quickly and effectively as if they were sending imagesdown the hall. Additionally, AG Mednet enabled the hospital to migratestudies to their new PACS quickly and easily, overcoming vendorincompatibilities and enabling the hospital to continue accessing theirhistorical data in digital form. All of this was accomplished with existingsystems and workflows, with no capital investment required on the hospital'spart.
"What's really revolutionary is the strength and reach of the AG Mednetinfrastructure. The speed and reliability of the network provide us withsignificant peace of mind in knowing that our access is continuous and isbeing monitored for us 24/7/365," explained Candra Szymanski, RN, chiefoperating officer for Marlborough Hospital. "There were no new systems tolearn, minimal IT effort, the elimination of VPNs and no need to purchasespecial-purpose telecom links to the facilities we're working with. We wentfrom a darkroom processor to completely digital and a new PACS in just over ayear. We simply couldn't have accomplished this without AG Mednet."
Women who undergo mammograms at Marlborough Hospital are now benefitingfrom the latest diagnostic technology available, digital mammography.Marlborough Hospital, which began offering digital mammography in late June2007, is one of only 20 percent of hospitals nationwide offering this state-of-the-art system.
"It's very gratifying to see the level of results Marlborough Hospital hasexperienced from using the AG Mednet network," said Abraham Gutman, founderand CEO of AG Mednet. "It's a new age in health care when hospitals such asMarlborough can offer the same sta
