Veterinary PACS Guide (2026): Features, Workflow + Pricing

What is a veterinary PACS?

A veterinary PACS (picture archiving and communication system) is the software that receives DICOM images from your modalities, stores them, routes them to whoever needs to read them, and retrieves them years later when a patient comes back. It is the imaging record of the practice: every radiograph, ultrasound, CT and MRI study in one place, filed against the right patient.

Three jobs sit inside that one system:

1. Receive and store. The digital radiography system, ultrasound machine or CT scanner produces DICOM files. The PACS ingests them, files them against the right patient and keeps them in an archive with a copy away from the practice.
2. Route for reading. When a clinician or specialist needs a study, the PACS delivers it to a workstation or a browser, and sends it to a teleradiology service when an outside read is needed.
3. Archive and retrieve. When a returning patient needs comparison images, the earlier study opens alongside the current one.

Without a PACS, images live on modality hard drives, USB sticks and email attachments, which means lost studies, repeat exposures and no record of who saw what. Clinics typically use a PACS to:

• Store imaging studies in a structured, DICOM-based archive
• Give clinicians viewing tools: measurement, annotation, windowing, series navigation
• Share studies with specialists, referring vets and owners
• Keep a record of access for accountability and security

How a veterinary PACS works (clinic workflow)

1. Order: The exam is created in the practice management system and appears on the modality's worklist.
2. Capture: Images are created on a modality (DR/CR, ultrasound, CT, MRI, dental).
3. Send: The modality sends the study to the PACS by DICOM.
4. Archive: The PACS stores and indexes the study by patient, date, modality and series.
5. View: Clinicians open the study in a browser or workstation viewer.
6. Compare: Priors are reviewed alongside the current study.
7. Share and report: The study goes to a radiologist, referral partner or owner, and the report comes back to the record.

Veterinary PACS vs "imaging software" vs teleradiology

• PACS: the imaging archive, viewer and sharing system, the core infrastructure.
• Veterinary imaging software: a broad term that can mean a PACS, a viewer on its own, or a workflow tool.
• Teleradiology: a service, or the workflow, for sending studies to radiologists outside the practice for reads. It usually connects to a PACS. Our teleradiology explainer covers it in detail.

Veterinary PACS vs generic medical PACS

Human-hospital PACS can be made to work in a veterinary practice, and some clinics do exactly that. The differences show up in daily use rather than on the feature list.

• Patient data. Veterinary patients come with species, breed and owner, and one owner often has several patients. DICOM has veterinary tags for these, and a veterinary PACS uses them. A generic system holds human demographics and needs workarounds.
• Workflow. A veterinary practice mixes in-house reads, specialist overreads and referral sharing, often with no radiologist on site. Hospital systems assume departments and radiologists in the building.
• Image layout. A canine thorax and a feline abdomen are hung differently. Species-aware hanging protocols save time on every study.
• Integrations. The patient record lives in a veterinary practice management system, not a hospital EMR or RIS.
• Cost model. Veterinary systems are priced for clinics; hospital licensing is sized for hospitals.

A generic PACS can still fit a single-modality clinic with minimal reporting needs and an IT resource to maintain the interfaces. For most practices, a veterinary system removes the double entry and the workarounds.

What to look for in a veterinary PACS (2026 checklist)

1) Viewing speed and usability

• Fast load times for large studies, especially CT and MRI series
• Clinical tools: measurement, annotation, window/level, cine, comparison with priors
• Works on the devices and browsers your team actually uses

2) Reliable image sharing

• Secure external sharing by link or email, with permissions
• Owner-friendly viewing that needs no software
• A record of who accessed what, and when

3) Modality compatibility

• Full DICOM support: storage (C-STORE), query (C-FIND), modality worklist
• Supports your modalities: DR/CR, ultrasound, CT, MRI, dental, fluoroscopy
• A clear process for adding new devices

4) Integrations and workflow fit

• Connects to your practice management system so patients are entered once
• Supports several sites under one account if you run them
• Exports your full archive in standard DICOM if you ever leave

5) Security and permissions

• Role-based access control
• Encryption in transit, and a clear answer on encryption at rest
• Single sign-on and multi-factor authentication if your organisation needs them

6) Storage and retention

• Scales with growth, especially if you add CT
• A written retention period and backup arrangement
• Transparent pricing for storage growth

For the full set of criteria and the questions to ask on a demo, see the buyer's guide to veterinary PACS software.

Cloud, on-premise or edge: the deployment choice

There are three ways to run a veterinary PACS, and each has a real use case. The cloud vs on-premise comparison goes through the trade-offs in detail.

Cloud. No server in the practice. Modalities send DICOM to the cloud and anyone with access reads in a browser, which suits groups with several sites, remote radiologists and practices with no IT staff. The question to ask is what happens at the practice when the connection drops.

Cloud with a local edge node. A small local machine sits between the modalities and the cloud. NewLumen, the cloud-native veterinary imaging platform from Asteris, works this way when a practice wants it. The edge node makes outbound connections only, with no inbound ports. It queues each study locally and keeps uploading until connectivity returns, and it caches studies on the practice network so local viewing continues through an internet outage. One Windows machine serves the practice.

On-premise. A server in the practice holds the images and the viewer runs locally. It gives full local control and suits practices with their own IT policies. The weak point is the single box, so an off-site copy is essential. Keystone PACS is Asteris's on-premise option. It keeps studies locally for fast access, sends them to an off-site archive that holds every study for seven years, and runs integrity checks to confirm each full study arrived.

Asteris offers both, so the deployment can follow the practice rather than the vendor. Decide this with whoever answers the phone when the internet goes down.

Integrations: what to validate before you commit

• Modality worklist: scheduled patients appear on the modality, so nobody types patient details at the X-ray unit. Our modality worklist guide explains the connection.
• Results back to the record: images and the signed report attach to the patient in the practice management system.
• Routing: send rules by clinic, modality or priority, especially for teleradiology.
• Patient matching: naming standards and identifiers so studies do not duplicate or misfile.
• Export: how you retrieve full studies and reports if you ever move.

How much does a veterinary PACS cost?

Veterinary PACS pricing is usually quoted per practice, so published price lists are rare. What moves the number:

• The pricing model. Per-seat licences charge for each user. Server licences front-load the cost. Subscriptions charge a monthly fee, sometimes with storage tiers. Per-study pricing tracks imaging volume.
• Storage volume. Radiographs are small; a single CT study can run to over a thousand images. Storage pricing matters as soon as cross-sectional imaging arrives.
• Sites and modalities. Each extra location or connected device can add to the price.
• Integrations. Practice management and teleradiology connections are sometimes priced separately.
• Implementation. Migration of historical studies, configuration and training.
• Support. Response times, out-of-hours cover and any annual maintenance fee.

Three questions get a comparable answer from any vendor: what is the price at our current volume, what is it at double, and what is not included? For Keystone, the price is set with the practice on the number of locations and modalities, with off-site archiving, support and updates included.

Switching veterinary PACS: how migration works

Practices switch PACS when the viewer cannot handle CT, the server is end of life, or they are moving to the cloud. The archive is the part that takes planning:

1. Inventory the archive. How many studies, how many years, how much storage, and which modalities. Include reports, which are sometimes stored apart from the images.
2. Confirm the export. Get it in writing that the current vendor will export every study in standard DICOM, with reports, and what that costs.
3. Agree the order. Recent studies usually move first, so priors are available for returning patients from day one, and older studies follow in the background.
4. Run both systems in parallel. New studies go to the new PACS while the old one stays readable until the migration is verified.
5. Verify. Compare study and image counts, and spot-check that studies file under the right patients and that priors match.
6. Keep read-only access to the old system, or a verified export, until you are certain nothing is missing.

Patient identification causes most migration trouble. Studies with inconsistent patient IDs or missing tags split or misfile when they move. Check a sample of your archive first; the DICOM conformance guide explains what to look for.

How should a veterinary PACS be backed up?

Every study should exist in at least two places, one of them away from the practice. Ask any vendor four things:

• Where are the copies? A second copy in the same building does not survive a fire or a flood.
• How is a restore done, and how long does it take? A backup that has never been restored is an assumption.
• What protects the archive from ransomware? For an on-premise server, an off-site copy the server itself cannot overwrite.
• Who owns the data, and in what format can you take it? Standard DICOM, without an exit fee.

In NewLumen, each clinic's images sit in its own storage bucket on Google Cloud, and patient data stays in the clinic's home region (US and Asia-Pacific are live). With Keystone, the off-site archive keeps every study for seven years alongside the local copy.

Implementation: a 7-step veterinary PACS rollout plan

1. Inventory: list modalities, locations, current storage and key workflows.
2. Define naming standards: patient and study conventions, so studies match.
3. Connect modalities: test DICOM send and the worklist on each device.
4. Set permissions: roles, access policies and external sharing rules.
5. Migrate if needed: move older studies in a controlled, test-first way.
6. Train by role: vets, technicians and front office.
7. Go live and check: daily checks for the first two weeks.

Common mistakes clinics make with PACS

• Choosing a viewer-only tool that does not handle storage, retrieval and sharing.
• Skipping modality testing before go-live.
• No naming standards, which leads to missing or misattached studies.
• Ignoring sharing workflows until referral partners complain.
• Underestimating storage growth once CT arrives.
• Never testing a restore.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a veterinary PACS if I only do X-rays and ultrasound?

If you capture imaging studies routinely, a PACS stops images scattering across devices, email and local drives, and keeps priors available for comparison.

What is DICOM and why does it matter?

DICOM is the standard file format and transfer method for medical images. Strong DICOM support means fewer compatibility problems between your modalities, your PACS and outside readers.

How much does a veterinary PACS cost?

Most vendors quote per practice. The price depends on the pricing model (per seat, server licence, subscription or per study), storage volume, number of sites and modalities, integrations, migration and support. Ask for the price at your current volume and at double, and what is excluded.

Can we switch PACS later without losing images?

Yes, if the current vendor exports every study in standard DICOM with its reports. Get that commitment in writing before you sign, migrate recent studies first, run both systems in parallel and verify counts before switching off the old one.

How do you back up a veterinary PACS?

Keep at least two copies, one off site, and test a restore. For an on-premise server, the off-site copy should be one the server cannot overwrite, which protects against ransomware.

What happens to a cloud PACS when the internet goes down?

It depends on the design, so ask where studies wait while the connection is down and whether anyone at the practice can still view them. NewLumen's optional edge node queues each study locally, keeps uploading until connectivity returns, and caches studies so local viewing continues through the outage.

What's the difference between PACS and teleradiology?

A PACS is your imaging system. Teleradiology is a service, or workflow, for having studies read by radiologists outside the practice.

What does DICOM conformance mean and why does it matter?

It means a file follows the DICOM standard, including the veterinary identification tags for species, breed and responsible person. Studies without them can file under the wrong patient or lose their priors. In a 2018 survey of 488 referral studies from 115 veterinary institutions in Germany, collected between 2002 and 2015, only 25 (5.1%) fully complied with those identification tags (Brühschwein et al., Journal of Digital Imaging).

How does a veterinary PACS integrate with practice management software?

Through a modality worklist: the exam is ordered in the practice management system, the order appears on the modality's worklist, the technician selects the patient instead of typing details, and images and the report return to the patient record.

Is a veterinary PACS different from a generic medical PACS?

Yes. A veterinary system uses the DICOM veterinary tags for species, breed and owner, lays out studies by species, supports veterinary report templates and connects to veterinary practice management systems. A generic hospital system needs workarounds for each of those.