St. Lukes Cataract and Laser Institute, Tarpon Springs, FL

St. Luke's Cataract and Laser Institute is one of the busiest, most respected and most successful eye surgery centers in the world. Its founder and director, Dr. James P. Gills, MD, is internationally renowned as a pioneer in small incision surgery, which is now the predominant method of cataract removal. Dr. Gills and St. Luke's are also well known for using technology to make their procedures both better and more affordable.

"We began to tell them about Laserfiche as an extension of a general discussion of data storage," says Bob McCoy of Huntsville, AL-based Southern Technology Group, a local Laserfiche reseller. "When we got into its retrieval capabilities and its ability to handle native file formats, however, Laserfiche quickly became the main topic of conversation.

"Laserfiche has been handling EOBs (Explanation of Benefit forms) practically from the first day. The staff literally can't believe how fast they're finding patient information.

"One of St. Luke's most interesting applications so far is in marketing, where one of the primary tasks is to put together visual presentations of their work, sometimes as a way to prepare patients for their surgeries.

"They've already scanned in thousands of photos. With the simple template that we built for them, they are able to find the shots they need in seconds. It used to take hours.

"With Laserfiche, they're going to be using a similar template to archive video clips of actual procedures. It will make it practical for them to start producing full motion video presentations as part of their regular routine. The long-term potential is awesome."