Early next year, Carestream plans to roll out an online portal where patients can receive credentials from their provider to log onto a website to view their medical imaging results or share them with another physician.
The company says the system, called MyVue, will help do away with the CDs and DVDs patients traditionally use to carry their scans from doctor to doctor. It could also help cut down on the number of duplicate studies taken because images get lost.
Both results could potentially lead to cost-savings for providers, payers and patients, Carestream said. For instance, radiology practices won't have to waste staff time transferring X-rays to CDs and shipping them out.
The system is being tested in the United States at a three-center Texas imaging chain, Houston Medical Imaging. The group's CEO, Dr. Randall Stenoien, said half of their patients during the three-month test period, about 1,500 people, logged on to the system. The center's general manager estimated the group saved a little over $7 per study that was transferred through MyVue instead of a CD/DVD.
But Stenoien said he likes the technology because it makes his business stand out from his competitors.
“We are definitely seeing patients shopping for imaging and I think MyVue enhances our ability to attract those patients,” Stenoien said in a brochure. “They’re fairly sophisticated consumers and they are interested in getting the best imaging for the money.”
Carestream said the system should be launched in the first quarter of next year, after the trade trial wraps up. Rochester Business Journal said in a report that one site in Italy is also participating in the trial.
