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Diagnostic Imaging Streamlined with New Image Sharing
Collaborative Between Regional Hospitals
Published: October 17, 2024
at 12:30 p.m.
By: Press Release from Fort Drum Regional Health Planning
Organization
Diagnostic Imaging Streamlined with New Image Sharing
Collaborative
Over 10,000 medical images and records shared since
January
Watertown, NY– Diagnostic
imaging is now easier in the North Country, thanks to a joint effort
between Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization (FDRHPO), North
Country Initiative (NCI), and their hospital partners.
Recently,
regional hospitals and patients expressed difficulties sharing patient
images, such as CT scans, mammographies, and
x-rays, between medical offices.
Image sharing has
been available through Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) along with other
medical information. While HIEs can send imaging, larger radiology images
require long transfer/download times and prohibit some files from being
transmitted. Often, hospitals
manually call or fax various radiology departments to request images,
and/or ask patients to physically shepherd their images using a hard copy
disk from one entity to another. These methods have been time (and
potentially cost) intensive for both healthcare providers as well as
patients and can add delays and frustrations in diagnostic care.
To address a need
to streamline the process, FDRHPO & NCI worked with its Clinically
Integrated Network of healthcare providers, to create an agreement that
allows participating North Country healthcare entities to directly query
and retrieve imaging using a solution called PowerShare
Imaging Sharing.
Part of Microsoft
Cloud for Healthcare, PowerShare Imaging Sharing
is a cloud-based solution that allows medical professionals and patients to
securely share medical images and reports instantaneously; diagnostic
quality imaging is directly imported between medical facilities without the
need to arrange and transport physical media such as DVDs or digital files.
“In such a
system, multiple healthcare entities connect to the system and can manually
request patient imaging from one another, or alternatively, groups of
entities that interact regularly can set up a ‘direct query and retrieval’
function that allows them to directly retrieve needed patient images
without a manual request process,” said North Country Initiative Deputy
Director Joanna Loomis.
In November 2023,
six entities entered into the agreement: Carthage Area Hospital,
Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Clifton-Fine Hospital, Lewis County Health
System, River Hospital, and Samaritan Medical Center.
“The regional
imaging sharing project has had a substantial impact on care delivered to
our patients in our community,” said Rob Pfeiffer, Director of
Radiology at Lewis County Health System. “The ability to import and view
imaging studies done at other facilities in the North Country has resulted
in quicker, more accurate diagnosis while helping to lower the cost of
healthcare.”
FDRHPO and NCI work
across the healthcare spectrum with hundreds of partners to improve the health
and wellness of all individuals living in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence
Counties. The need for an improved image-sharing strategy is one example of
how FDRHPO and NCI leveraged resources and addressed identified gaps through
collaborative work with North Country healthcare professionals, to ensure a
high-quality, patient-centric regional healthcare system.
To date, over
10,000 images have been shared throughout the network of local hospitals
from its start in January 2024 to August 31, 2024.
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About the Fort
Drum Regional Health Planning Organization
FDRHPO works to strengthen the system for health for the integrated
Fort Drum and civilian community through analysis, identification of needs
and leveraging of resources to fill gaps through innovation and
collaboration. For more about FDRHPO, visit www.fdrhpo.org.
About the North
Country Initiative
The North Country Initiative (NCI) is a partnership of hospitals,
independent physicians and community providers working together to reform
the healthcare system in across Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence
counties. Together, these partners carry out strategies to coordinate
leadership, align incentives, create clinical programs, and develop
technical infrastructure. The outcome of these changes will improve the
health of the community, reduce the cost of healthcare, and improve the
care for patients. For more information about NCI, visit www.northcountryinitiative.org.
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