Questions to Ask Third-Party Imaging Support Companies

Use these questions to compare third-party imaging support companies across scope, SLAs, security, expertise, reporting, and transition.

Questions to Ask Third-Party Imaging Support Companies

By Trisha Seal — October 1, 2026. Practical guidance for hospital imaging operations.

A structured question set exposes more than a generic request for references. Use these prompts to learn how a company will behave during a real PACS incident.

Scope and Ownership

  1. Which applications, interfaces, archives, gateways, and sites are included?
  2. What is explicitly excluded?
  3. Who owns an incident when the failing layer is initially unknown?
  4. Who coordinates internal IT and manufacturer escalation?

Coverage and SLAs

  1. Which hours have live coverage?
  2. How are severity levels defined?
  3. Do targets cover acknowledgment, active response, updates, and restoration?
  4. What happens when a target is missed?

Compare answers against a written PACS Support Framework.

Technical Depth

  1. Which PACS, DICOM, HL7, archive, and workflow systems has the team supported?
  2. How would it trace a failed study or worklist interruption?
  3. Which tasks require the manufacturer?

Security and Access

  1. How is privileged access approved, protected, logged, and removed?
  2. How quickly are security incidents reported?
  3. Are subcontractors used?

Documentation and Reporting

  1. Which runbooks, inventories, and diagrams will the hospital receive?
  2. How are changes and recurring incidents reported?
  3. Does the hospital retain its documentation at contract end?

Transition and Exit

  1. What happens during discovery and knowledge transfer?
  2. How is current coverage protected during transition?
  3. What exit assistance is included?

Review how to switch support providers safely and distinguish continuing managed PACS support from a short interim engagement.

RAD365 may be evaluated for PACS Support and Radiology Workflow Manager operations. It does not read or interpret studies.

Source

NIST SP 1800-24, PACS security practice guide

Related Reading

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions

How many providers should a hospital compare?

Compare enough qualified providers to understand differences in scope, operating model, and accountability; quality matters more than a fixed count.

Should pricing be compared before scope?

No. Normalize systems, hours, responsibilities, exclusions, and service targets before comparing commercial terms.

What is the most important incident question?

Ask who owns coordination when nobody yet knows whether the fault is PACS, interface, network, modality, or manufacturer code.

Why ask about exit assistance?

A defined exit protects hospital-owned documentation, access control, open incidents, and service continuity during a future transition.

What proof of performance should be requested?

Request relevant references, sample reports, anonymized service measures, escalation examples, and evidence of experience with the included systems.