Ms. PACS: “Uh oh”….that’s what my niece says when she’s done something wrong. Or, when you ask, “Carrie, what are you doing?” and she answers, “Nothings.” You know she’s up to no good.
In the case of the FBI raiding one of the big three (which happens to be a major PACS vendor too) in Malvern, PA, yesterday, we don’t know what prompted the FBI to bust down the doors and haul out a lot of boxes. But I'm sure there were a lot of "Uh oh's" among the employees.
They say it's related to a U.S. military contract for radiology systems – I didn’t realize how top-secret military radiology was – move over CSI – military rads are a lot sexier – sorry PACSman, you’ll get your own show too one day;) Of course, there is always that possibility that they won’t find any weapons of mass destruction and it is a simple case corporate-giant wrongly accused - but of what, exactly? Here is how local channel 6abc.com covered it:
Agents raid Siemens Medical Solutions
Federal agents converged on a medical supply company in Malvern, Chester County late this morning. The raid began shortly after employees reported for work Wednesday morning.
Agents with the Defense Criminal Investigations Service rolled in with a rented box truck.
They swarmed into the building with a search warrant and went to work.
Nervous employees stood outside as the agents combed through files and computer records. About six hours later, they emerged with box loads of evidence.
They loaded it all onto the box truck and then left.
DCIS confirms they were looking for records in connection with a specific military contract.
Siemens says it has hundreds and hundreds of contracts with the military, but could not confirm which one is at issue.
Siemens is a multinational corporation based in Germany with satellites around the world. About 4,000 people work at the Great Valley complex.
They specialize in computer record systems and high tech medical devices.
The Pentagon says it will not identify the contract in question, but does confirm that Siemens does business with all branches of the military.
The building that was searched houses the executive offices among others at the U.S. headquarters for Siemens.
Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6773715
So, Inspector Gadget, does this have anything to do with the latest version of syngo PACS? Is it a bust or a frame up? What's your take on it?
PACSman: Bust? Where? It's just you and me here Ms P and since you seem to be somewhat mammarily challenged we're just about even in the upper level department so...Thankfully I'm more a leg and butt man than a bust guy anyway so...
Wrongly accused huh? Oh yeah, well about that $2.1B slush fund back in 2007....Well you see, that wasn't our fault. We weren't supposed to get caught with that. ..but hey, $317M in fines was only 15% of th total fund so.....it's what we call the cost of doing business. Now the the $2.5M in fines we paid in the same year for a sham joint venture on a $49M deal in Chicago was a travesty. Chicago!! Of all places - one of the most non-corrupt cities in the entire country...But we did much better because that only cost us a little over 5% of the total cost of the deal...and once again, the cost of doing business...
When I read Ed Bradley was in charge I said to myself - now they are in serious deepness - 60 Minutes is on their case, but alas, tis only a special agent by the same name.
You also have to love the one and only comment Siemens made to the press - that it “will continue to cooperate fully with the government’s investigation.” Let's see - a dozen or more federal agents with guns show up at your building with a search warrant and a truck to secure records. Hmmm...what are you going to do - declare diplomatic immunity in Malvern, PA? Ah, no...
I also can't possibly imagine who would tip the Feds off to anything that was done improperly by such an upstanding company. Whomever it was probably had to have sour grapes over losing medical imaging contracts worth $267 million to supply radiology systems, subsystems and components on behalf of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Rest assured it wasn't me - I haven't done a deal over $150M in years...which is why I still drive a six year old car.
If this had anything to do with syngo PACS, it would amaze me because I don't see very many standalone syngo PACS being installed outside of those bundled with modality deals. Of course, you could say the same about the other modality vendors as well. Bundled deals happen - that's the nature of the game - it's just that Siemens seems to have the market on bundled deals that include their PACS, while the other vendors just discount heavily to make their sales happen.
For the company's part they "asked its employees who work near the area subject to the search to leave for the remainder of the day and to return tomorrow for a regular workday." So Siemens fans and detractors alike - as the little red haired girl Annie once sang, "The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun! " and it will be business as usual at Ziemens...Just don't look too closely in the dark corners or listen to the whispers...
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