For example, reliable medical imaging equipment can minimize maintenance expenses. Upgradability is important because it can avoid obsolescence. On-going maintenance must be considered for all hardware and software. The terms of purchase or leasing are important because they can affect cash flow and risk. Most discussions about PACS eventually include the problem of image compression.
Compression is desirable because the cost of storage media is a large contributor to total costs.
Compression also may be desirable for the transmission of images over channels with limited bandwidth. This is especially appropriate for teleradiology systems using lines owned by the telephone companies, a leasing situation in which charges rise with line bandwidth and connection duration. While compression remains somewhat controversial, the economics of managed care furnish a motivation for radiologists to relax their insistence on perfect fidelity of transmitted images. Despite some radiologists' legitimate concern that they may miss small structures, the fact is that they may also miss these and other diagnostically significant structures on film. Improved technology and monitors with appropriate spatial resolution help to rectify these concerns as well.