Telstra Health has launched a vendor neutral image and data management service that provides radiologists with the ability to view x-rays, MRIs and other radiology studies, regardless of location or the system used to capture the image. 

The service bundles vendor neutral archiving capability with a curated storage solution and Telstra’s data network. This combination of software and the Telstra IP network allows very large studies to be rapidly fetched from the archive by any site in the network, reducing idle time and improving efficiency.

The sharing ability of the solution can deliver multiple benefits, including improved efficiency and reduced costs by avoiding unnecessary duplicate imaging and lost time while waiting for images to load. It also means second reviews can be conducted or reports archived without concern as to what system was used to capture the image. This solution lends itself to radiology providers who outsource their reporting services to teleradiology organisations. 

Michael Boyce, Telstra Health’s Head of Provider Applications, said that the solution demonstrates in the real world how a better connected health system can benefit patients and providers.

“The image and data management service means more convenient access to images and reports and reduced time taken for a diagnosis to be delivered to patients. For radiologists and the business it means more efficient use of skills and resources, allowing images to be automatically routed to the most appropriate radiologist available depending on the type of image or skill set required.”

“When a patient sets an appointment the service can pre-fetch prior studies of that person, making the patient’s history available at the radiologist’s fingertips.” 

“The key to building a connected healthcare system is interoperability - having different programs talk to each other and allowing data to be shared across platforms. This solution means that where radiologists previously had to be using the same imaging system, they can now use different systems but share files, regardless of location, software or hardware.

“In the future this will mean patients will be able to create a holistic image history, pulling files and images from different providers, in different locations and have one, single source of their radiology history,” Mr Boyce said.

The hybrid cloud/on-site solution sees radiology studies transmitted to a centralised storage facility through Telstra data connectivity links and then managed using the Mach7 Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) software, provided by Telstra Health’s third party supplier, 3D Medical. The service will deliver long-term image storage including back-up of all images at a secondary site.

Leading diagnostic imaging provider Capital Radiology signed a four year contract with Telstra Health in July 2015 as the foundation customer and the solution has already been deployed and is archiving data for 55 of Capital’s 72 clinics.

Chris Germon, Chief Information Officer of Capital Radiology, said that the solution would change the way radiology was delivered.

““The Mach7 enterprise imaging solution provides Capital Radiology with a flexible and robust solution to better manage our large amount of imaging data. Our business workflow requirements change regularly but using this platform we can adjust our workflow rules within seconds and deliver images to clinicians promptly. The security and reliability of the Telstra Health hosted platform, together with the enterprise imaging expertise of Mach7 ensured the implementation process was completed on-time and to Capital’s expectations,” Mr Germon said. 

www.telstra.com/health