Technology making a positive difference
NORTHWEST IMAGESHARE came together as a result of problems identified by referring physicians and their ability to quickly access a patient’s prior images and reports. These images and reports could get dipersed over multiple systems as patients changed or visited different providers.
In trauma situations, Harrison Medical Center’s emergency room (ER) physicians often had difficulty accessing patient imaging studies conducted at other facilities which led to rescanning of the patient. This would incur additional cost and radiation exposure, as well as slow down diagnosis and treatment.
The former model also hurt physician productivity, causing them to log into and learn multiple PACS interfaces that were used by the various imaging providers on the Kitsap Peninsula. Additionally, when patients would bring in their own CD’s of images, they often were not compatible with the viewer and could not be read.
With the creation of Northwest ImageShare, the group has overcome traditional technical and competitive boundaries to drastically reduce IT costs, create economies-of-scale, and improve physician efficiency by providing easy, centralized access to patient information/images, and reduce duplicative imaging procedures, which work in concert to provide improved patient care.
