Merge: Ferro Resigns As Pharaoh
From this morning's Merge email blast: Michael W. Ferro, Jr. Steps Down as Chairman of Merge HealthcareDennis Brown Appointed New ChairmanCHICAGO, (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merge Healthcare Incorporated (Nasdaq:MRGE), a leading provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to transform healthcare, today announced that its Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Michael W. Ferro, Jr. as Chairman and a Director of the Company and appointed Dennis Brown as the Company's new Chairman, both effective immediately."I have decided to step down from my roles as Chairman and a Director of Merge Healthcare," s...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 26, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
Demos Among Friends
We got word, rather late in the game, that one of our referring clinician groups was thinking of changing their PACS. With a little nosing around, I was able to get myself invited to their meeting, where they would hear from the two vendors selected by their head of imaging. The group was only dimly aware that we have our own Merge PACS to sell, which happens to be the same system that is used at our common hospital.The night of the demo came. I won't name the two vendors because one has a reputation, deserved or not, for taking legal action against those who speak ill of it, and I might as well not name the second. I sat ...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 19, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
QR Me
QR codes have been around quite a while. You can read about their history HERE. The code above is for this site, DoctorDalai.com. Just scan it with your smartphone and the appropriate software, and you'll get right back...Here!I've come up with yet another million dollar idea that I'm going to give away, and it came to me this morning while reading the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.I still like paper journals. They are pretty easy to manipulate and they don't take batteries. And I grew up reading them. And we're all familiar with them, and so on. But periodically (pun intended) I run across an article I'd l...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 18, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
LEAP Into PACS
From LeapMotion.com:With a wave of a hand or lift of a finger, you’re about to use your computer in a whole new way. The Leap Motion Controller senses how you move your hands the way you naturally move them. So you can point, wave, reach, and grab. Even pick something up and put it down. Just like in real life. It’s an amazing device for the things you do every day and for things you never thought you could do. Just $79.99.It goes where no device has gone before.With a wave of a hand or lift of a finger, you’re about to use your computer in a whole new way. The Leap Motion Controller senses how you move your hands th...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 18, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
A Message To Managers Everywhere, Especially Those In IT
Anthony Guerra, Editor-in-Chief, penned the following piece over at healthsystemsCIO.com. It should be required reading for everyone who manages anyone, and particularly for those in IT...Balancing The Elements Of Leadership“So he just sat there?"“Yup.”“And you didn’t know he was coming?”“Nope.”“And he didn’t say anything at all?”“Nope.”“And then he just left?”“Yup.”My friend Sally had recently taken on a new role in her company during which the boss of the division was temporarily reassigned. Everything had been going just fine, with Sally settling in, learning the ropes and establishing ...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 9, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
No More Surges At Merge
The PACS and HIT business can be volatile, and the nameplates on the corner-offices tend to change fairly rapidly.Merge's most recent Earnings Report and Earnings Call (transcript here) tell a Tale of Two Merges, with the best of times hopefully ahead of them, and the worst of times behind.The report states the situation in no uncertain terms:Chicago, IL (Aug. 9, 2013) Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ: MRGE), a leading provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to transform healthcare, today announced its financial and business results for the second quarter of 2013. Merge also announced that its board of ...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 9, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
PACS Memorabilia Contest!
I'm just back from Canada, having taken Mrs. Dalai on a quick cruise of the St. Lawrence waterway, starting in Montreal, and ending in Boston. There is some truly picturesque territory up there, and some not so much. Of our brief glimpse of Canada, I'd have to say Quebec City and Halifax were my favorite spots. We might have liked Bar Harbor, Maine, if we had been able to actually see it, which we couldn't because it was completely fogged in. Oh well, we had some very nice lobstah with buttah at the Bah Hahbah Club, which made up for everything else.If you follow me on Facebook, you might recall that we had a bit of troubl...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - August 5, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
Bureau-Crazy
Did you ever wonder why nothing gets done in IT? I happened to be part of an email thread that illustrates the touchy-feely aspects of life in the slow lame...Maybe if we actually talked about what needed doing and then do it...Subject: Transition is a Journey***An update on the journey Good afternoon Team, Our management team met this morning for our usual Monday morning meeting and had a good discussion on transition. I would like to share some of the take-aways and next steps with you so that you are in the loop and informed. · Transition is...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - July 22, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
The Results Of Proper Stimulation On The Blood Pool
(Source: Dalai's PACS Blog)
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - July 6, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
A View Of The DOMA Decision
Dalai's Note: A close friend of mine, who happens to be gay and in a committed relationship, sent me this note on the recent Supreme Court decisions. I couldn't have said it better myself:I think DOMA was a bad law and needed to go, but I am not fond of the concept of "gay marriage'. I think it's a bottom up solution for a problem that needs to be considered from the top down.They are seeking marriage as a way to participate in the same "civil" benefits. Marriage, to me, is a religious concept and belongs to the churches/synagogues... and I won't get into the historical ownership of women that it was at one time.What I wou...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - June 27, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
Nuclear Death
A very sad tale from the Wall Street Journal:Equipment Collapses, Killing PatientBy TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and CHRISTOPHER WEAVERA patient at a veteran's hospital in the Bronx was killed Wednesday when a large piece of diagnostic equipment fell on him in what experts called a rare accident.The 66-year-old victim was undergoing a procedure using a gamma camera at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center when the apparatus apparently collapsed and crushed him, officials said.In a statement, a spokesman for the medical center said the camera was installed in 2006 and was maintained by its manufacturer. "This is a very tragic and unus...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - June 13, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
NEWS FLASH! TeraRecon Drops Taylor!
Earlier this week, the Board of Directors of TeraRecon has decided to take a new direction, releasing longtime President Robert Taylor, Ph.D., according to several of my sources with a few of Tera's larger customers.Dr. Taylor's bio on the TeraRecon site has been purged, but here is the cached version:Robert Taylor, Ph.D. President and Chief Executive OfficerChairman Dr. Taylor joined TeraRecon in February 2001 with the responsibility for creating and developing the Company’s advanced visualization business in the global market. He received both his B.Sc. (1990) and his Ph.D. (1996) in physics from Imperia...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - June 7, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
THIS Is What Happens When Patients Have Access To Their Reports
From Aunt Minnie's European Division:June 5, 2013 -- Earlier this year, two radiologists were physically attacked as they worked in their hospital in Belgium. One of them tells Frances Rylands-Monk, associate editor ofAuntMinnieEurope.com, about the frightening ordeal, and talks about the lessons for clinical radiologists who are in ever closer contact with patients.The day had started off like any other. I was steadily working through my morning's reports when my secretary came to tell me that two men were waiting outside to talk to me about an x-ray report I had done. My secretary thought they seemed odd, agita...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - June 5, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
News flash!!!!
Please stand by for a Doctor Dalai Exclusive!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Source: Dalai's PACS Blog)
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - June 3, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
"The Patient Wants To Talk To You, Doctor..."A Manifesto About Image Sharing
There are those who go into radiology because they don't want to have much interaction with patients, and fortunately they are few and far between. Personally, I like to talk with the patients. Frankly, though, I'm glad the opportunities are limited, because I don't think I have what it takes to handle a painful exchange, such as having to tell someone they or a loved one has cancer. My mental health is far better served by talking to the PACS monitor. It only rarely talks back.There is a new phenomenon out there, patients reading their own reports. I have written on Sermo.com (sorry, physicians only) and AuntMin...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - May 31, 2013 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
