Merge OrthoPACS is an image capture and storage solution designed for orthopedics.
Orthopedic surgeons are mobile, they typically work in small practices with five or less doctors, and they serve patients at as many as three different locations, says Steve Tolle, executive vice president of solutions management at Merge Healthcare, Chicago. In response to the needs of orthopedic surgeons, the company relaunched its orthopedic PACS solution, called Merge OrthoPACS, this past June.
According to the company, Merge OrthoPACS is a comprehensive image management and digital templating solution for orthopedics. Merge OrthoPACS lets orthopedic surgeons access images taken at multiple locations in a single viewer, diagnose from anywhere at any time, plan for surgery with digital templating, and securely archive studies.
Tolle, who notes that half of all digital orthopedic groups in the United States use Merge solutions today, describes Merge OrthoPACS as a “re-build and design” of the OfficePACS solution the company acquired from Stryker in 2010. In addition, he notes that Merge OrthoPACS caters to mobile orthopedic surgeons because of its “zero footprint” client viewer—which is important to orthopedic practices because it means images will be the same whether the surgeon views them on their workstation, on their iPad, or on another device.
“Orthopedic surgeons often perform surgery at facilities they don’t own,” said Tolle, who believes that the ability to view images via a Web viewer on their tablet, iPad, or other device will be key for orthopedic surgeons, since they won’t be required to log in to a hospital’s virtual private network.
Merge OrthoPACS’ case planning capabilities are valuable to orthopedic surgeons because they work closely with sales representatives from medical device companies to determine the right size implants for their patients, explains Tolle. An orthopedic surgeon does not want to have to get three or four implants. Rather, they need to be able to share measurements and other information about their patients with the sales representatives at medical device companies—which they can do via the Merge OrthoPACS Web viewer.
Larger hospitals and integrated delivery networks that have already invested in Merge’s PACS solutions—and, therefore, the company’s “backbone”—will be able to “plug into” that infrastructure, while providing their orthopedic surgeons with tools that cater to their specific workflow, says Tolle. He notes that Merge Honeycomb Archive, the company’s solution for health care organizations that want to store and access medical images securely in the cloud, will be available to Merge OrthoPACS customers later this year.
This is important because, as Tolle notes, orthopedic surgeons are thinking about Meaningful Use and the impending payment reforms. “There’s an intense pressure to share images [with referring physicians]. We’re going to start to see payment bundles for hip and knee surgeries. [The payor] will pay one dollar amount, which will need to be shared among those doing the work. Increasingly, patients want to see their images, too—and we built [Merge OrthoPACs] with this in mind.”
According to Tolle, Merge has been actively generating awareness of the new orthopedics solution among its customers for about 2 months—and he says that customers have been receptive. A real selling point for current users of Merge OrthoPACS, according to the company, is the encouraging feedback received from orthopedic surgeons who like the speed at which they are able to access images.
“We’ve already begun upgrading our practice to Merge OrthoPACS,” said Bradley Dick, chief information officer at Resurgens Orthopaedics, Georgia’s largest orthopedic practice. “With Merge OrthoPACS, we’ll migrate from a legacy product to true DICOM archive technology, which will make it easier to share and manage images across our 21 offices in metro Atlanta.”
Tolle notes that the company works closely with its customers as part of its Voice of the Customer program, which taps customers to advise on product features and function. He says that the company looks forward to converting its 600 orthopedics customers to the new platform and to selling its new orthopedics PACS to new customers.
