Reduced Cost & Increased Productivity: Image Sharing with Transfer-to-PACS
Providers can access and share clinical images easier than ever with the Transfer-to-PACS (TTP) solution offered through HealtheConnections. The Central New York HIE has been developing resources for healthcare providers to share medical images more efficiently throughout the region since 2010. We’re empowering providers to view diagnostic-quality medical images when and where they are needed with a single click, anywhere, anytime.
The TTP solution is unlike any other image platform currently available. Tightly integrated with HIE platforms, it automates one of the most cumbersome and costly burdens borne by patients and imaging service providers alike. Accessing and importing prior imaging studies from external providers is vital in the diagnosis and treatment of critical conditions like cancer, stroke and heart disease.
Users are finding success in the platform. “For years we have struggled to locate, import and reconcile external images, surgical and implant reports that are needed to diagnose and treat and safely scan our patients,” said Craig Pole, MR Safety Officer at Rome Memorial Hospital. “One of our biggest pain points has been dramatically reduced now that this onerous process has been automated through HealtheConnections.”
With Transfer-to-PACS, nearly 500 users in more than 20 HealtheConnections’ participating organizations now have the ability to transfer critically-important external medical images from other providers into their own imaging system. One click from the patient’s record replaces what might otherwise take several days or more, burden patients with chasing down imaging CDs from multiple locations, and waste vital clinical staff time exporting, importing and reconciling records from diverse locations –time that could be available for direct patient care. HealtheConnections participants are transferring more than 8,800 image studies per month, an increase of 600% since offering the service.
“The HealtheConnections’ Transfer-to-PACS option is our first source for outside images,” shares Jim Colone, Director of Ancillary Services at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists (SOS). “Our providers don’t want to view images from multiple outside sources on their viewers. HealtheConnections allows us to pull those images into our PACS that the doctors are familiar with. This makes the viewing and manipulation of images more efficient. Transfer-to-PACS allows us to see prior exams and to transfer only those pertinent to the patient’s musculoskeletal issue as opposed to having to import an entire CD that may have non-orthopedic studies on it.”
To learn more about the image exchange platform and how HealtheConnections’ participants are benefitting from Transfer-to-PACS, please contact HealtheConnections support at 315.671.2241 x5.
