The so called ‘Jara’ project connects the region’s 14 clinics and hospitals with about 100 Public Health Centers (PHCs) and roughly 1,000 general practitioners. All of them have simultaneous access to one Centricity RIS/PACS solution, supplied by GE Healthcare. With the ‘Jara’ project, named after a typical Extremadura flower, Juan Pablo Alejo aims at introducing a regional Electronic Patient Record (EPR) solution.

“From the very beginning, ‘Zurbaran’ had the objective to introduce an integrated RIS/PACS solution. Only the concept of Centricity by GE Healthcare fulfilled the expectations related to the radiology workflow,” explains Juan Pablo Alejo about the decision to chose GE’s Centricity. Within the SES, Juan Pablo Alejo is responsible for the complete IT infrastructure of the Public Health Service in Extremadura. As he is a radiologist, he is knowledgeable about his colleagues’ requirements for an effective image and data management system.

All image producing diagnostic systems within the 14 Extremadura hospitals deliver their digital images immediately after scanning to one central PACS. The modalities receive data for planned treatments directly from the RIS. Every assistant from her/his computer has a full overview of all treatments scheduled. Moreover, Dr. Jose De la Barrera, Chief Radiologist at the Hospital in Merida, has a complete overview of his department’s activities without even leaving his desk. “Not only is the radiology department taking advantage of digitization, but the hospital as a whole and all referring doctors,” explains MD De la Barrera.