Review Of Experience With PACS Cost Analysis Model

To evaluate whether the new technology of PACS can be cost justified, we have developed a computer model to analyze the costs of manual vs. digital PACS. The model was used to compute the costs of manual PACS for 14 imaging centers in 1988. The results were compared against the cost profile of an average US 400+ bed hospital derived from '85-'87 TMG PACS tracking studies in over 600 US institutions. The comparison showed that the model accurately predicted costs in these 14 imaging centers to be close to the US average. The total predicted cost per average examination was $21.49. The total annual costs were found to have a linear relationship to the number of examinations and the number of beds in the hospital. The model indicates the annual cost of a manual PACS at a 500 bed hospital to be $ 2 million.© (1989) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.