Software as a Service Cardiovascular PACS Based on Web 2.0 Technologies

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国，近三分之二的医学成像程序是在医生办公室进行的，然而，这些小型医疗保健提供者中很少有负担得起与大医院交换这些图像所需的图像存档和通信系统（PACS）。由于无法在线访问以前的成像测试，许多程序都是重复的，导致医疗保健费用过高。美国政府问责局（GAO）估计，这些费用在2000年至2006年间翻了一番，目前，成像占到医疗保险支付给办公室心脏病专家的总费用的三分之一以上。为了促进医学图像的跨提供者共享，我们建议心脏成像技术公司、约翰霍普金斯健康系统和杜克大学之间建立战略合作伙伴关系，开发一个供医生办公室使用的医学图像管理系统，该系统与国家卫生信息网络（NHIN）相连接，NHIN是国家卫生信息技术协调办公室（ONC）的联邦倡议。我们提出的系统将允许多个小型医疗保健提供者通过互联网向单个服务提供者传输图像，然后使用NHIN基础设施与其他医疗保健提供者共享这些图像。拟议的系统有望极大地促进医疗图像的跨提供者交换，从而减少重复测试，降低医疗保健成本，并在全国范围内提高患者护理质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nearly two-thirds of all medical imaging procedures in the United States are performed in physician offices, yet few of these small healthcare providers can afford picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) needed to exchange these images with large hospitals. Without online access to previous imaging tests many procedures are repeated, leading to excessive healthcare costs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has estimated that these costs doubled between 2000 and 2006, and that imaging currently accounts for over one third of total Medicare payments to office-based cardiologists. To facilitate cross-provider sharing of medical images we propose a strategic partnership between Heart Imaging Technologies, the Johns Hopkins Health System, and Duke University to develop a medical image management system for use by physician offices that interfaces to the National Health Information Network (NHIN), a Federal initiative of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The system we propose will allow multiple small healthcare providers to transmit images over the Internet to a single service provider, and then share these images with other healthcare providers using the NHIN infrastructure. The proposed system is expected to greatly facilitate cross-provider exchange of medical images, thereby reducing repeat testing, reducing healthcare costs, and improving the quality of patient care on a national scale.