Pacific Healthcare Imaging (PHI) is an integrated healthcare provider offering a comprehensive range of services from specialist medical care to wellness services as well as operating nursing homes, day surgery centres and a compounding pharmacy. The medical imaging services at PHI include General X-rays, Ultrasound, Mammography and Computed Tomography (CT Scan) as well as more specialised examinations such as coronary CT angiography and virtual colonoscopy.

Kestral’s first major site in Asia, PHI recently implemented Karisma integrated with Philips iSite PACS at a location in the heart of Singapore. The Kestral project team employed Karisma along with active database mirroring and a comprehensive Disaster Recovery solution to ensure the highest level of data integrity for this important site.

For Kestral, our staff and our products, 2011 has been a very exciting time. With new clients migrated successfully to Karisma and others to PLS, Kestral has also expanded our internal support and development resources.

Throughout the past year, the Development team have maintained their excellent track record of improving our core product offerings to keep step with the changing needs of the market. In the latest edition of eNews, we take a closer look at the features and functionality that have been added to our products. You can read all about it in Development in 2011, here.

From November 27 to December 2 this year, Chicago, ILL plays host to the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) annual meeting where medical imaging professionals from all over the world gather and discuss the latest innovations in radiology. For almost 100 years, RSNA has stimulated and helped to advance the highest standards of radiology and related sciences through education and research.

At the 97th RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, a number of educational courses, scientific presentations, lectures and exhibits are on show from more than 700 international companies showcasing innovative technology and healthcare services.

Kestral is a regular exhibitor at The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists meetings and were in attendance at the Melbourne convention centre.

A number of staff manned a newly outfitted booth and caught up with long time clients and associates; as well as meeting new people from both the imaging industry and the profession. Other vendors and partners in attendance included representatives from Philips, GE, Intelerad, Voyager, Sectra, Carestream and McKesson.

Development work has recently been completed on Kestral’s Pathology Laboratory System (PLS) to include a number of new features. Following is a look at just one of the many features added to the program; a dedicated word processor.

The brand new word processor functionality is built in to PLS and the very next upgrade will include this capability. After further infrastructural work and further development, PLS will also include distribution capabilities such as printing.

Recently celebrating its 140th anniversary, The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) is Victoria’s major specialist paediatric hospital. With close to 4000 highly skilled staff throughout the organisation, the RCH extends a range of clinical services, from primary to quaternary level care and health promotion programs to children and young people across Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and the world.

Thanks to recent optimisation work on the program, Kestral’s Clinical Integration System (CIS) product is now compatible with the Safari web browser.

Kestral’s unique CIS software allows the quick retrieval of medical information from many existing local and remote sources via a user-friendly browser interface. CIS interfaces securely with various data sources such as Radiology, Pathology, PMIs and other HL7 interfaces.

This new Safari compatibility means users can access and utilise programs such as PLS and RMS from iOS devices which carry the browser - including iPhone and iPad.

Vascular One Ultrasound (VOU) is a new facility serving Kotara and surrounding areas in the Hunter region of Newcastle, NSW. Located around 160 kilometres from Sydney, Newcastle is among the ten largest cities in Australia with an approximated population of 300,000.

Senior Sonographer Warren Lewis and his wife Teresa saw the need for specialised vascular ultrasound services in the area and began work on the business in December 2010. VOU has now opened its doors to the public, beautifully fitted out with leading edge Toshiba Xario XG Ultrasound equipment and the best RIS for the job – Karisma.

Kestral was recently in attendance as a sponsor and participant in the 8th Annual Scientific Meeting of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapists (ASMMIRT) at the Adelaide Convention Centre, located in the Adelaide CBD by the River Torrens.

The aim of ASMMIRT is to bring together a range of CT and MRI radiographers for a programme dedicated to knowledge where they can compare techniques - and diagnostic radiographers and radiation therapists can learn more about each other’s roles to facilitate a smooth planning of treatment for patients. The conference offers professionals exciting learning opportunities alongside social events for rest and recreation.

Kestral’s Pathology Laboratory System (PLS) provides a total information management solution across many healthcare disciplines. PLS intelligently automates the accurate and complete transfer of information from laboratory instruments to PLS report.

Kestral has provided interfaces to various laboratory instruments analysers, unidirectional, bidirectional, host query and bidirectional query interfaces. PLS is offered as a totally integrated, complete solution, rather than separately installable modules. The entire system shares a common architecture, data storage, and program code.

In the coming weeks, Karisma v2.1.0 will be released. The latest release will include a number of new and enhanced features - continuing Kestral’s ongoing commitment to providing the most advanced RIS solution available in the Asia Pacific region. Order Entry and Server Monitoring are just two of the enhancements and new functionality we have added to Karisma.

The Order Entry module is used to receive electronic orders from a third-party application (such as Cerner or OACIS) in the form of HL7 Messages. These orders can be used in the same manner as paper requests, except with improved efficiency. With electronic orders, the information is already captured electronically and a request can be created with minimal effort where all details are recorded.

Based in the picturesque wine-making region of Bendigo, Victoria, Bendigo Health is a multi-service regional health organisation and the largest regional health provider in its state. The Medical Imaging Department at Bendigo Health provides extensive, high quality imaging services to inpatients of the Bendigo Hospital and Anne Caudle Centre campuses as well as outpatients referred from hospital clinics, specialists and general practitioners in Bendigo and surrounding areas.

Bendigo Health recently upgraded from Kestral’s legacy product RMS to the more robust and feature-rich Karisma RIS system. For the complex but well-rehearsed upgrade process, Kestral Support Consultant Asim Jaleel was onsite at Bendigo Health to ensure things went smoothly.

Recently held in Sydney in conjunction with the Department of Health and Ageing, NEHTA, Standards Australia, HL7 New Zealand and Business Events Sydney, the HL7 International Working Group Meeting provided the forum for more than 50 Work Groups, Committees and Task Forces to progress the HL7 V2.x, CDA, HL7 V3 and EHR Standards. An extensive range of Courses, Tutorials and Workshops on the very latest developments in EHRs, clinical messaging, terminology etc. was on show by the global experts and leaders in eHealth.

Kestral sent key staff along to the conference to gain some very useful knowledge of HL7 and CDA standards. Technical Team Leader Angus Millar and Support Consultant Jacque Alsop are now certified for HL7 V2.6 and CDA V2 and are up-to-speed with the basics of Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS).

This has been another landmark year for Kestral, with the installation of a number of new clients. In keeping with service quality commitments, Kestral has added to its programming and customer service resources.

During the year, Kestral has provided a multi-site Karisma RIS solution to one of the largest remaining non-corporate radiology groups in Australia, on the Gold Coast. The Melbourne office has seen continued growth in upgrading systems at Eastern Health, Peninsula Health, Bendigo Health and St Vincent’s Hospital.

Lime Radiology, located in Margate north of Brisbane, is an independent provider of Radiology and Nuclear medicine services to the Redcliffe and greater northern region of the Queensland capital. Lime is owned and operated by Dr Eugene Lim, from whom (Lim, E) the practice takes its name.

Dr Lim and the staff at Lime provide almost all types of Diagnostic Imaging services including Digital Radiography, Breast Imaging and Mammography, Computed Tomography, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine and Bone Mineral Densitometry. Proud of their customer service and utilising the very latest in imaging technology, Lime ensures each patient a fast, accurate and safe examination in a friendly, caring environment.

The 61st Annual Scientific Meeting, RANZCR 2010 was recently held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The conference featured vendors from all over Australia, as well as a good International contingent and various esteemed speakers.

As you are no doubt aware, Kestral is a regular exhibitor at the RANZCR meetings and this year was no different. Our booth, below a 3m wide banner promoting Karisma, was ably manned by Director Kevin Moynihan and Business Development Manager David Moran, with help from Application Architect Gavin Morris and Support Consultant Donna Lenetsky.

As a regular exhibitor, Kestral will showcase Karisma RIS at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) conference. RANZCR 2010 will be held in Western Australia at the Perth Convention Centre from the 14th to the 17th of October.

At this year’s conference, Kestral will be showcasing the latest Karisma dictation and reporting functionality. With these new reporting tools; such as parking reports, authorising on the fly, viewing images and requests and prior reports via modality segment, radiologists will be able to maintain their daily reporting workload and provide a high quality report turnaround to referring physicians.

As well as migrating to a new PMI, Pathology Services at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) has recently implemented a state-wide Tasmanian Patient Identifier. Kestral was pleased to assist RHH in this technically complex project, and has also taken this opportunity to build into PLS the capacity to utilise the anticipated unique national patient identifier.

Tasmania's largest hospital, and one of its largest single employers with over 2000 FTE staff, the RHH is also a teaching facility of the University of Tasmania. Opened in 1804, Australia's second oldest hospital after Sydney Hospital, was moved to its current premises in 1820. The 490 bed facility provides both general and speciality medical and surgical services; and is the State referral centre for cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, burns, hyperbaric and diving medicine, neonatal intensive care and high risk obstetrics.

Karisma has now offered users assured and direct integration with Medicare Online for almost three years. The development of our flagship solution in line with Medicare Online's evolution has been a learning experience for all involved at Kestral. The changeover from Medclaims, the previous system, was enormous in terms of both programming requirements and the re-training of users.

As you upgrade to Karisma V2.0.9, you will notice a slight change within the Medicare Online requirements. Kestral has actively upgraded Karisma's in-built functionality to the very latest version of Medicare Online. The Karisma support staff at Kestral have taken the time to outline a set of Frequently Asked Questions on Karisma's new Medicare Online functionality.

Long-standing Kestral client, the eminent Healthscope group of facilities, consists of more than forty private hospitals throughout Australia and abroad in Asia. Healthscope includes a leading pathology arm with facilities around Australasia, Singapore and Malaysia and over 45 medical centre clinics and diagnostic imaging within major hospitals.

Healthscope has recently expanded its substantial services to Kingaroy X-ray Clinic in regional QLD - a private service outsourcing its reporting requirements to Healthscope's Allamanda and Brisbane Private hospitals.

Founded as a Bush Nursing Hospital in the 1930's and established as a network of facilities in 1995, the Peninsula Health Care Network now comprises two acute hospitals; four Aged Care, Rehabilitation, Palliative Care and Residential services; two mental health facilities and four community health services - all in various locations throughout Frankston, Rosebud, Seaford and Mornington, Victoria.

Peninsula Health is a recognised leader in the promotion and provision of high quality, innovative, coordinated and personalised health services. Kestral is pleased to announce that the Frankston Hospital site has gone live with Karisma.

The Kestral Knowledge Base (KBS) has now been released to the public and is accessible from the banner at the bottom of the website home page at www.kestral.com.au.

KBS is a central repository for information related to the company's products and processes. At present, the available content is for Karisma only; but as articles on other products are created, they will also be incorporated. PLS and RMS documentation is still available directly from the website.

A major release for Karisma will soon be available. Karisma v2.0.9 will include a number of new and enhanced features, providing users with an improved experience and organisations with more efficient workflow and additional technical capabilities.

 New innovations have been employed in the Dictation and Reporting modules to provide reporting Radiologists with the most workflow efficient tools yet. Along with an enhanced user interface, the screen now includes a configurable layout and at-a-glance viewing of WAV files.

World-renowned Kestral client, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney (SVHS) recently extended their existing Karisma installation to two additional work sites - the Nuclear Medicine Department in the public hospital and a work site in St Vincent’s Clinic.

 SVHS offers internationally celebrated services and expertise, best-in-class facilities and educational opportunities. Regarded as an innovator in clinical care, research, teaching and medical leadership, SVHS was founded on the principles of compassion, care and respect for all people - more than 150 years ago.

With the new year upon us, we would like to take the opportunity to wish a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our partners and clients and review the major milestones for the company this year.

Users have recently benefitted from a number of additions and enhancements to HL7Connect; Kestral’s full-featured HL7 messaging interface. HL7Connect enables communication between HL7-compliant applications; removing the need for applications to interface directly.

Kestral is pleased to announce that the second phase of our important Midlands project has been completed at Waikato District Health Board (Waikato DHB) and the facilities are now live.

Kestral implementation staff recently completed the installation of Karisma at Healthscope's brand new Imaging Diagnostics Australia site at Allamanda Private Hospital on the Gold Coast.

Kestral is pleased to announce that our own Grahame Grieve is the 2009 recipient of the HISA Don Walker Award for Effectiveness in recognition of his development work on common datatypes within the HL7, ISO and CEN communities. 

Kestral and Philips Healthcare have recently joined forces for the implementation of Karisma and iSite PACS into the Medical Imaging department of St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.

Kestral recently launched Karisma’s latest feature, the Business Report Studio, at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) conference in Adelaide. RANZCR, now in its 60th year, was created to enhance the knowledge of contemporaries in the fields of Radiology and Radiation Oncology.

Kestral is pleased to announce that we will be demonstrating Karisma’s brand new Business Report Studio at the upcoming RANZCR 59th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Karisma Go-Live was recently completed for startup radiology practice Coffs Coast Medical Imaging (CCMI) in NSW. Staff at CCMI worked with Kestral to implement an integrated Karisma-Inteleviewer system to operate throughout the facility.

Located in Midland, Western Australia, InSight Clinical Imaging is the latest practice to implement a Karisma system. Karisma training, implementation and configuration were carried out at the site by qualified Kestral staff.

For more than 20 years, rural communities on the southern coast of NSW have been provided with comprehensive imaging services via the outstanding experience and resources of South East Radiology.