Budget variance analysis of a departmentwide implementation of a PACS at a major academic medical center.
In this study, the costs and cost savings associated with departmentwide implementation of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) as compared to the projected budget at the time of inception were evaluated. An average of $214,460 was saved each year with a total savings of $1,072,300 from 1999 to 2003, which is significantly less than the $2,943,750 projected savings. This discrepancy can be attributed to four different factors: (1) overexpenditures, (2) insufficient cost savings, (3) unanticipated costs, and (4) project management issues. Although the implementation of PACS leads to cost savings, actual savings will be much lower than expected unless extraordinary care is taken when devising the budget.
Reddy
Arra Suresh
AS
Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, One Deaconess Rd, Room 327C, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Loh
Shaun
S
Kane
Robert A
RA
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D002017:Budgets; D017046:Cost Savings; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006801:Humans; D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D011873:Radiology Information Systems / Q000191:economics*