A new image at FAMC

The first phase of a new $15 million imaging center opened today on the Fremont Area Medical Center campus.

The 20,000-square-foot addition to the west side of the hospital had been in the works for more than two years. It includes new MRI machines, CT scan machines, X-ray machines, mammography machines and other equipment.

Men and women have separate changing and waiting areas and women can get services such as a mammogram, ultrasound, stereotactic biopsy or bone densitometry. Men and women won’t cross paths on their way to testing.

All of the services can be accessed without walking through the hospital for outpatient services, but also by patients residing in the hospital. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and hospital officials are considering more evening and weekend hours.

"It’s all in the interest of patients," said Dr. Michael Soe, radiologist and FAMC medical staff president. "One of the things on patient surveys for years has been privacy."

He said the old imaging area had one small waiting room and one changing area for both men and women. Patients often would cross paths during their visits.

"Our old department was built on an inpatient concept," Soe said. "Now, 80-90 percent of what we do is outpatient. Medicine has changed that way. This was designed for outpatient."

The imaging center has its own entrance, covered patient drop off area and parking lot.

"They’ll be able to enter on the other side of the hospital," said Peg Kennedy, FAMC vice president, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer. "Imaging patients and lab patients will be able to register right at the door. They will have a much shorter walk and more parking."

All of the new equipment provides digital images that are quicker and can be viewed by doctors online from their offices.

"This whole program reinforces our commitment to the community," said Patrick Booth, FAMC president and chief executive officer. "This is a state-of-the-art imaging center. This really puts us above any provider in the region."

He said that while the hospital has been providing quality imaging, the equipment was not state of the art and the facilities were not that attractive to the public.

"We’d love to have people come and give us a try," Booth said. "I think they’ll be impressed."

More than a third of the hospital’s total patient volume is in outpatient services, he said.

"Our commitment is that you don’t have to travel for diagnostic and imaging services," said Mark Svoboda, FAMC administrative director of radiology and radiation oncology. "You don’t have to go to the big city."

They said part of the draw to the new imaging center is expediency in registration and getting tests done, but won’t affect the time it takes for test results to be returned.

"Right now, 99 percent of what we do is read by the end of the day," Soe said.

He said the hospital used to schedule MRI tests at 45 minute intervals and now will be able to schedule them in 30 minute intervals.

The new equipment also allows for new tests.

"We can now do open stroke imaging," Soe said. "There will be a lot of things in MRI that we haven’t been able to do. Breast MRI is the fastest growing MRI in the country."

He said breast MRI isn’t for everyone, but is often used on women with dense breast tissue because standard mammography isn’t effective on them.

"We’re just excited to get moving on this," Soe said. "In the past I think some patients were uncomfortable coming here. There’s no reason for that anymore."

A lot of that discomfort came from men and women crossing paths in hospital attire.

"The testing is stressful for women," Kennedy said. "We want to make that as easy as possible."

A public grand opening and open house with tours and refreshments will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 31.