by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | October 05, 2011
From the November 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Merge Healthcare said Wednesday it would launch a free cloud-based imaging sharing service at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting next month.
The new project, dubbed "Merge Honeycomb," would be the country's biggest image sharing network, according to the Chicago-based radiology IT firm. The company said it would help do away with duplicate scans -- which cost the industry about $35 billion a year -- and the need to have patients tote CDs bearing CT or MRI scans to their doctor.
"With the largest network of imaging clients by far, Merge is taking this important step to connect the health care industry and expand interoperability," Merge's CEO, Jeff Surges, said in a statement.
The project, announced at Merge's 2011 client conference, would let users upload, download, view and swap medical images through a Web browser. And the service is open to anyone who registers for it. In a conversation with DOTmed News, a Merge spokeswoman confirmed that radiologists, patients and physicians don't need to have previously installed Merge software to use it.
Any would-be users can pre-register for the service before its November launch by visiting here: www.merge.com/honeycomb.aspx.
