New Imaging Interoperability Application Integrates with Electronic Health Record

A new application is a zero-footprint, zero-download Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and enterprise document-sharing (XDS) viewer that enables diagnostic quality image review for referring physicians.

Merge Healthcare (Chicago, IL, USA), a health information technology (IT) solutions provider, successfully deployed an imaging distribution solution for the physicians of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Memorial Health Care (Worchester, MA, USA), an academic medical center with five facilities serving central New England. iConnect Access gives physicians the ability to view medical images directly from their electronic health record (EHR).

"We are thrilled with the success we've experienced using the iConnect Access viewer," said William Corbett, MD, vice president community practices for UMass Memorial Health Care. "Now, every physician has the ability to view images wherever needed, right within our Allscripts HER. This provides our clinicians significant benefit over just having access to the written report, while also enhancing their interactions with our patients."

Merge's iConnect Access viewer is part of the broader Merge iConnect solution, an interoperability suite that allows providers to view existing images and content, regardless of the multiple applications in which the images are stored. Integrating iConnect into broader hospital information technology (HIT) systems, such as EHRs, enables physicians to have a complete view of the patient, including images, results, and demographics.

"We've previously partnered with Merge for our cardiology imaging applications so we knew we could leverage their expertise to deliver the images our physicians need at the point of care," said Richard Cramer, associate CIO for operations for UMass Memorial Health Care. "Merge's image distribution integration with our EHR was a seamless fit with our other solutions and has greatly improved the clinical workflow for our physicians."

"Our partnership with UMass Memorial Health Care is exciting as it demonstrates the power the images play in truly delivering a connected community," explained Merge CEO Jeff Surges. "Meaningful Use requirements will increasingly include distribution of diagnostic testing results. Medical images are tough to manage, and Merge has this figured out. As this successful deployment at UMass Memorial Health Care demonstrates, we can now help providers better meet meaningful use and deliver more timely patient care."

Merge products range from standards-based development toolkits to advanced clinical applications.

UMass Memorial Health Care is central Massachusetts' largest not-for-profit health care delivery system, covering the complete healthcare continuum with UMass Memorial Medical Center. UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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