Dickinson County Healthcare System (DCHS) provides a broad range of high-quality care including inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic, and specialty services for communities in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 2008, DCHS decided to transform the mammography services and to become one of the best-in-class mammography providers nationwide. Therefore, full-field digital mammography replaced analogue film-based mammography. In order to make the transition from analogue to digital technology, DCHS selected Siemens Healthcare, as, according to Bill Johnson, Radiology/Imaging Services manager at DCHS, “Siemens has been a reliable technology partner for over ten years and its products provide the connectivity and high imaging quality to meet the expectations for DCHS’s patients and physicians.”

The patient-centered workflow helps provide fast and reliable service to the patients and facilitates the workload of the mammography team. Patients experience virtually no waiting times when scheduled in advance and the total exam time does not exceed 15 minutes. The images are available as soon as the exam has been completed. Additionally, the hospital management has noted that total costs are reduced through exam efficacy, positive public sentiment, increased reimbursement over film screen, and expedient result reporting. DCHS and Siemens have proven that the combination of the latest technologies with strong and close teamwork is beneficial to everyone involved, with the ultimate beneficiary being the patient.