In the News

Valley Baptist, Local Physicians Open Area's 1st All-Digital Imaging Center

Valley Baptist Health System along with local physicians has opened a new outpatient imaging center in Harlingen to provide greater convenience, faster turnaround times, and new services for Valley residents needing CT Scans, MRI, X-rays, mammograms, ultra-sound, and bone density tests.

The new all-digital facility is located at 1717 Treasure Hills Blvd., at the corner of Treasure Hills and Pease Street in Harlingen. A grand opening for the Treasure Hills Imaging Center will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at 5:30 p.m. The 10,800-square-foot center is a joint project between Valley Baptist and Valley Radiologists & Associates, a group of local radiologists who provide radiology services at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen.

“This new imaging center will provide faster service and greater convenience for Valley residents, whether they need a simple chest X-ray, a screening mammogram, a CT-Scan, or MRI,” said James G. Springfield, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer for Valley Baptist Health System.

Mr. Springfield noted that patients have good access to the center from Treasure Hills Boulevard. Patients are able to park close to the new facility, and have just a short walk to the center.

Scott Manis, Chief Operating Officer for Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, said the new imaging center will be used only for outpatient radiology tests. Inpatient and emergency radiology services will continue to be performed at VBMC-Harlingen’s main hospital building. This means that patients’ results at the new outpatient center won’t be delayed by emergency cases. Because of this, the new center will be able to produce outpatient test results faster and more efficiently.

“This will allow us to improve the turnaround time for patients’ test results,” Mr. Manis said.

Mr. Manis noted that the all-digital format represents a huge leap in technology. “All of the mammogram procedures which had been done on film will now be performed digitally,” Mr. Manis added. “This is the first facility of its type anywhere in this area. It will be a showcase for the state-of-the-art equipment from General Electric.”

“Patients will benefit from new equipment which allows the radiologists to better enhance views (of diagnostic tests),” added Daniel Fuentes-Bernardo, M.D., of Valley Radiologists and Associates. The new system enables the radiologists to zoom in or out as necessary to get the best view of X-rays or other images.

If it is difficult to see a particular image, the radiologist can shade parts of the image to produce better contrast and visibility. This will allow physicians to better diagnose various medical conditions and pinpoint the best treatment for each patient.

“This new facility will use the Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS), which allows storing of results on digital media rather than film,” said Thomas Pirtle, M.D., also of Valley Radiologists & Associates. This will make it easier for the radiologists to store and retrieve patients’ test results.

In fact, radiologists and other physicians will be able to retrieve images on their home computers or any computer in the world with Internet access -- as long as the physician has an authorized login name and password. In addition, two physicians who are conferring about a patient’s results, for example a cardiologist and a radiologist, will both be able to look at a patient’s image at the same time on different computer screens -- while discussing the results over the telephone.

The new imaging center combines electronic imaging, a more relaxed atmosphere, and advanced equipment. For example, the new imaging center has a 16-slice CT scanner. This should reduce the actual procedure time.

Another new service will be a bone densitometery test to evaluate a patient’s bones for osteoporosis. This will also be a non-invasive procedure … the patient will simply lay on a comfortable, padded table for about ten minutes, while the scanner takes a picture of the bones.

Mr. Springfield said the new imaging center represents an “exciting new partnership between Valley Baptist and local physicians as we work together to find innovative ways to better serve our patients and the community.”

For more information, please consult your physician.