Two different health care providers recently opted for solutions from Merge Healthcare to solve their imaging needs. Mon General Hospital, Morgantown, WVa, will utilize Merge Cardio, an enterprise-level cardiology image and information system, and Merge Hemo, a cardiac cath lab knowledge tool; and Covenant HealthCare, Saginaw, Mich, has selected the company’s iConnect Access software for its 600-bed facility.
Mon General Hospital is an integrated health care delivery system that provides a full range of family-centered care to residents of north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. The provider network is currently replacing all of the existing imaging systems in its cardiology department with Merge solutions, including information systems for cardiology image management, hemodynamics, and ECG.
Merge Cardio is a cardiology information management platform that integrates data across the continuum of cardiovascular care. The system integrates data from different sites and different sources to create a comprehensive digital record on a patient. At any time and from any location, physicians and other health care professionals can access the patient’s complete, up-to-date cardiac file.
Merge Cardio is a cardiology information management platform that integrates data across the continuum of cardiovascular care.
Merge Healthcare?s iConnect Access software provides access to medical images from any approved Web-enabled device.
“We needed to eliminate the inefficiency caused by the disparate systems we previously had,” said Steve Carter, CIO at Mon General Hospital. “We met with executives from Merge and were impressed with the company’s direction and their road map for future products. Ultimately, we selected Merge because it was the best fit for our long-term goal of having a fully integrated, enterprise-wide cardiovascular information system.”
Merge Cardio’s Web-based clinical reporting streamlines the report generation and distribution process. Designed by practicing cardiologists, Merge Cardio’s reporting features encompass all elements of the cardiac diagnostic process within a structured methodology.
Mon General Hospital will also utilize Merge Hemo, which integrates complete functionality for data collection, waveform analysis, inventory control, patient charges, image review, and procedural reporting into a single system. The two systems—Merge Cardio and Merge Hemo—integrate to create a complete image and information management system.
Covenant HealthCare is a nonprofit health system located north of Detroit that offers a broad spectrum of programs and services ranging from high risk obstetrics, neonatal, and pediatric intensive care, to acute care including cardiology, oncology, trauma, orthopedics, robotic surgery, and many other services on the leading edge of medicine. The health system, in an effort to streamline its imaging infrastructure, selected the iConnect Access software, a zero-download DICOM and XDS viewer that provides image review for referring physicians from any device.
“iConnect Access integrates directly with our existing image archive to display any image, anywhere, at any time,” said Keith Grantham, director of information technology, Covenant HealthCare. “We look forward to eliminating potential IT headaches that sometimes arise when communicating with associates outside the hospital.”
Health care organizations often have large physician referral networks that are supported by thousands of image review displays, and while most of these devices require a software download in order to be able to display images from their PACS, the iConnect Access software avoids this process. The software provides access to medical images for hospital physicians and referring physicians from any approved Web-enabled device.
iConnect Access also eliminates the need for multiple clinical viewers integrated to the electronic medical record. Clinicians can use the solution’s single multispecialty viewer to access images from radiology, cardiology, and other image intensive areas from multiple departments with no additional software downloads.
“Diagnostic images are a critical component of a patient’s electronic medical record,” said Jeff Surges, CEO of Merge Healthcare. “By being able to deliver those images faster and by providing better access to that content, our iConnect solution enables physicians to diagnose patients faster and provide better care.”
