24/7 Remote Access to Digital Medical Images

The lack of timely and easy access to medical images is a major problem in the New Zealand healthcare system. Until recently, digital medical images were stored in “silo” PACS systems, with every public and private radiology provider having their own separate system that could not communicate with others and that could not be accessed by outside healthcare providers. Viewing of images by “outsiders” was and still is widely achieved by either printing film, burning CDs, or by a multitude of proprietary remote X-ray viewing programs. None of these workarounds are satisfactory; every day, the radiology and medical community faces the frustrations of unavailable images.

In response to that, Swift Technology Group (www.swiftgroup.co.nz) and IMAGE Information Systems (www.image-systems.biz) have installed CentralPACS, which is designed as a nationwide solution where all public and private radiology providers can deposit their images and all radiology users can view them as and when required. CentralPACS (www.centralpacs.co.nz) is a national image repository that can store all types of medical images. The images are transferred into CentralPACS based on IMAGE Information Systems’ iQ-WEBX server from the existing private and public PACS over the Internet and can be securely accessed over the Internet using any Web browser on any computer, smart phone, or other Internet-capable device. Access is available for any appropriately registered healthcare provider who has signed up to the privacy and security requirements.

CentralPACS marks an enormous breakthrough in offering a single national PACS system for a country of 4 million people. Over 700 physicians have already signed up for the service and new signups are rapidly increasing. So far, there are more than 190,000 studies on the repository. Those using CentralPACS can feel the positive effects in terms of minimizing staff and patient time, resources, and frustration. Bruce Allen, director at Horizon Radiology, who is working with CentralPACS in currently 27 locations across the nation said, “Swift Group has saved us many tens of thousands of dollars since becoming our IT partner 3 years ago. We are in the health industry and require reliability, security, and responsiveness as well as innovative, affordable IT solutions. We maintain large, sensitive databases and every day we move gigabytes of critical data between multiple sites around New Zealand. Swift Group has been excellent in devising innovative, cost-effective solutions for us in a true partnership.”

Matthew Gillard, one of the two directors at Swift, highly rates the cooperation with IMAGE, “Throughout this project, IMAGE Information Systems have been on board to customize the system to suit our needs, with very quick turnaround times. Without the support of IMAGE, we would not be the leader in providing better, faster, and more efficient ways of sharing medical images around the New Zealand health system.”

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