FEBRUARY 26--A new research and learning center formed by Indiana University School of Medicine (IU; Indianapolis) and GE Medical Systems Information Technologies (www.gemedicalsystems.com) will help hospitals get the greatest benefit from digital, filmless x-rays and other medical diagnostic images. The REWARDS Institute, housed in a new $7 million facility in downtown Indianapolis, will offer courses starting in March 2002.
Radiology programs and hospitals are rapidly replacing x-ray films with digital images to help doctors serve their patients more effectively while controlling the cost of care. With digital technology, doctors can immediately look up a patient's past images on a workstation, instead of waiting for films to be located in a file and delivered.
The migration to digital imaging and archiving systems is creating a need for training and education for physicians, technologists, and hospital and clinic administrators. The need to know faces a steep upward curve: health-care technology consultants estimate that 60% of US hospitals will have adopted digital imaging systems by 2006. To help meet that demand, the IU department of radiology and its affiliated practice group, IU Radiology Associates, joined with GE to create the REWARDS Institute at the IU School of Medicine. The institute will support a research program, a customer learning center, and a showcase site for the GE Picture Archiving and Communications Systems.
