HEALTH CARE : Computerized Storage Has Paved the Way for Filmless X-rays

Imagine Dr. Marcus Welby turning on a computer screen instead of staring at a patient’s X-ray tacked up on a light board.

That’s the way it would be across the United States if 12-year-old Olicon Inc. has its way, said Chief Executive Dick Paulsen.

The San Clemente-based archivist of radiological imaging says its goal is to give hospitals and clinics a “filmless environment” within the next 10 years.

It appears to be gaining on that goal. With a growing number of hospitals and clinics tapping into computerized health information systems, Olicon said it can save a hospital millions of dollars a year, countless hours and rooms and rooms of archive space by storing X-ray images on digitized computer disks instead of filing the bulky film.

Privately held Olicon, which also manufacturers the imaging computer systems that allow hospitals to digitize X-ray images, already has more than 80 million images stored at its seaside office and expects that number to explode, because it is estimated that the medical community will spend more than $1 billion over the next five years on newly developed digital archiving equipment.

“Then we can truly be filmless,” Paulsen said.