PACS costs: modelling and simulation.

The advantages to be expected of full-scale PACS implementation are widely described in the literature. In the decision to introduce such systems, costs will also play an important part. The benefits to be achieved should at least outbalance the costs. In this paper the set-up of a software package for cost assessment is described. The configuration requirements have to be determined based on the workload of the radiology department and a PACS model using results of simulation studies. Of course additional user requirements are important input parameters (e.g. number of workstations, screen resolution, etc.). Data on costs of the various configuration components and the expected future trends in these costs will be used to estimate the costs of a specific PACS configuration as a function of time. Savings to be achieved in the various categories of resources will be input (again with their trends) to lead to an overview of the total savings to be expected. The package will result in a graph of the net annual costs as a function of the timing of PACS introduction. In the package a critique module is foreseen that checks whether the data fed into the system are of reasonable agreement with expert opinions.