Franciscan Alliance has chosen Merge Healthcare's iConnect Access to image-enable its electronic medical record and provide real-time access to radiology and cardiology images and information across its network of 13 hospitals in Indiana and Illinois, US.
iConnect Access, a part of the iConnect suite, includes iConnect Share, an internet-based gateway for imaging sharing between enterprises, and iConnect VNA, a vendor-neutral archive to create an enterprise imaging strategy.
Franciscan Alliance senior vice president of information services and CIO Bill Laker said company's physicians are incredibly busy and mobile and needed access images from any workstation within the clinic as well as through their mobile devices, including iPads and iPhones, without having to manage software.
"Additionally, while we were looking for a way to improve our image-enabling capabilities, we were pleased to realize that not only could we provide anywhere, any time access to radiology images -- our original goal -- but that iConnect Access could also connect to our archive of cardiology images," Laker added.
Merge Healthcare CEO Jeff Surges said with the proposed Stage 2 requirements that focus heavily on the viewing of diagnostic images, large health systems will need to look at image-enabling their enterprise EMRs.
"The fact that Franciscan Alliance, Inc. is providing access to both radiology and cardiology images not only ensures that they are prepared for Stage 2, but will also help to facilitate high physician adoption of their EMR," Surges added.
