APUG MEETING - RSNA 2000
McCormick Place
Chicago, IL
November 29, 2000
11:30 am - 1:00 pm

DRAFT MINUTES

An Agfa PACS User Group (APUG) Meeting was held in McCormick Place, Room E270 during the RSNA meeting in Chicago, IL November 29, 2000. Patricia Whelan, Chairperson of APUG, welcomed the attendees, introduced the APUG Executive Committee, reviewed the agenda, and provided an update of the financial and membership status of APUG.

Documented attendance (sign-in log):

Michael Abiri, Beth Israel Medical Center
Rose Honea, Texas Children’s Hospital
Jay Crawford, Medical University of South Carolina
Eugene Mah, Medical University of South Carolina
Raymond Geis, Poudre Valley Hospital
Kevin R. Kirsch, Poudre Valley Hospital
Sissy Pederson, Presbyterian Greenville
Lance Hefner, William Beaumont Hospital
Paul Kurly, William Beaumont Hospital
Debra Kapczynski ,William Beaumont Hospital
Jon Hall, VAMC – GLAHCS
Marty-Theresa Shore, Partners Healthcare
Darren Sack, Partners Healthcare
Deb Lopez ,Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Terry Stavang, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Greg Walton, Carilion Health System
Jay Rogers, Inphact
Edward Majors, Florida Hospital
Sally Grady, Florida Hospital
Bob Coleman, Maine Medical
Donna Davis, Naval Medical Center San Diego
Robert Witt, VA Medical Center Indianapolis
Joseph Madden, VA Medical Center Indianapolis
Kathy Andriole, UCSF
David Avrin, UCSF
Paula Dolan, University of Massachusetts Memorial Healthcare
Patricia Whelan, Mass. General Hospital
Anna Marie Mason, SCAR
Kenneth Lusnia, Agfa/NAFTA/Professional Services
Patti Carabella, Agfa/NAFTA/Global Impax
Judy Irwin, Agfa
Douglas Tucker, Agfa
Robert Cooke, Agfa

Robert Cooke, Vice President/Global General Manager of Agfa's IMPAX Solutions presented an update of Agfa’s vision and goals that included the following strategic areas: 1) multi-hospital network integrated delivery 2) multidisciplinary PACS that manage all medical data 3) RIS-PACS integration (Quadrad has been acquired) and 4) development of new methods to manage systems and risk. Mr. Cooke’s concluded his presentation with an introduction of Douglas Tucker, Ph.D. the new Vice President of IMPAX Solutions North America.

Patricia Whelan moderated an open forum with Agfa IMPAX Solutions staff. The first question dealt with the increasing need to enhance PACS at an institution but move financing from the capital budget to the operations budget. Robert Cooke responded that Agfa is now offering operational financing and risk management with software upgrades, offsite storage, etc.

The second question discussed was the future of NT, specifically the future of Version 4.0 and NT. Mike Fisher (IMPAX-Mitra) responded Agfa is committed to Windows 2000. There are some limitations involved in moving from NT to Windows 2000. Agfa will continue though to supply and support Unix in the core.

The question was asked about the state of 3.5/2.6 and if there is a future of enhancements. The response was functionality will be maintained and integration with new modalities will be possible.

Discussion ensued on NT product security and how security has become more of an issue within each institution due to increased familiarity. Implementing and validating security patches is the current practice of Agfa service. The question was asked, "How are system administrators made aware of known problems both prior to and after patches are issued?" It was acknowledged this is Agfa Service’s responsibility and they are always looking for improved methods of communication with sites.

Next, the APUG users conducted an open forum led by Patricia Whelan. The focus was to determine the most effective way to gain understanding of current issues and work toward a common agenda to leverage a collective voice to influence Agfa corporate agenda. Suggestions included strengthening the user group and maintaining solidarity by not diluting our voice and efforts with the establishment of regional user groups. Dr. Witt from University of Indiana suggested the group’s thinking should be modeled more on a computer company focus vs. a medical imaging company model. APUG must work toward playing more and more of an advisory role with Agfa.

Specific suggestions from the users involved improving communications, information flow and appropriate disclosures from Agfa on upgrades, patches, etc. For example, patches could be posted on a website and/or a robust, proactive bulletin board. Patches need to be listed by priority level with sequencing and assurance of proper testing of patches.

Patricia Whelan stated an APUG survey would be distributed in early 2001 to IMPAX sites to gather data in order to provide objective, intelligent feedback to Agfa with a prioritized list of problems from APUG members. The results of the survey should be available by the time of the next APUG educational meeting, May 2, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a day prior to the SCAR 2001 meeting.

Patricia Whelan announced the URL of the new APUG web site, http://apug.net and encouraged users to visit the site to stay informed of APUG activities and upcoming events.