The Rochester RHIO, the New York area's regional health information organization, has automated access to patient images for participating healthcare institutions.
Using Rochester-based eHealth Global Technologies' HealthConnect Image Exchange service, in conjunction with the Axolotl Corp.'s Elysium health information exchange, the RHIO will provide eight radiology providers with access to PACS imaging services.
Brockport, N.Y.-based Lakeside Memorial Hospital will be the first health provider integrated into the eHealthConnect Image Exchange.
"Early on in the RHIO development, we recognized the importance of including imaging as an integral part of shared patient data across the greater Rochester region to provide improved patient-centric care," said Ted Kremer, executive director of the Rochester RHIO. "The Image Exchange from eHealth Global will improve access to patient images, including CT, MRI, X-Ray and Ultrasound exams, it will reduce duplicate procedures which add unnecessary healthcare costs and exposure to radiation, and it will reduce the associated costs of managing and distributing that data across the region."
The eHealthConnect Image Exchange will store 30 days of exams and allow radiologist to pull older exams on-demand. The eHealthViewer will also allow clinicians to view the radiology exams selected from within the Web-based Elysium HIE system.
"We are excited to be at the forefront of implementing an image exchange that allows us to share images with all participating clinicians throughout the Rochester RHIO," said John Schrenker, chief information officer of Lakeside Health System. "Providers connected to the Rochester RHIO can now enhance their referral process with Lakeside Health System by being able to access radiology reports and images from Lakeside, immediately upon their availability, regardless of the location of the clinician."
"As a result, our patients are assured that their care providers will have all the information needed at the point-of-care to either diagnose or provide treatment. The eHealthConnect Image Exchange is a cost-effective method of distributing patient images throughout the community that will also help us raise the standard of care, reduce costs associated with duplicate exams and lead to a more efficient patient care delivery mode," he said.
The image exchange servers and data storage are housed in a tier-1, HIPAA-compliant data center, and all information is distributed via a virtual private network. At each radiology provider site, eHealth Global Technologies deployed an "edge server" that communicates with the provider's PACS via Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) query/retrieve and does not impact user licenses or Web performance of the PACS.
"This is the first image exchange of its kind image in the country, and as a result it will enable participating facilities and physicians to provide a higher standard of care by ubiquitous sharing of patient images across an entire healthcare community," said Ken Rosenfeld, president and chief technology officer of eHealth Global. "This level of access to images will help reduce duplicate testing and the risk of mistakes and enable participating facilities to better utilize radiology resources. Rochester RHIO is a benchmark for RHIOs and HIEs across the country for exchanging of images in a useful and functional manner."
