Software as a Service Cardiovascular PACS Based on Web 2.0 Technologies

描述(由申请人提供)：美国近三分之二的医学成像程序是在医生办公室进行的，但这些小型医疗保健提供商中很少有人能够负担得起与大型医院交换这些图像所需的图像存档和通信系统(PAC)。如果不能在线获取之前的成像测试，许多程序都会重复，导致过高的医疗成本。政府问责局(GAO)估计，这些费用在2000至2006年间翻了一番，目前成像费用占办公室心脏病医生医疗保险总支出的三分之一以上。为了促进跨提供商共享医学图像，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，开发供医生办公室使用的医学图像管理系统，该系统与国家健康信息技术协调员办公室(ONC)的联邦倡议国家健康信息网络(NHIN)接口。我们建议的系统将允许多个小型医疗保健提供商通过互联网将图像传输到单个服务提供商，然后使用NHIN基础设施与其他医疗保健提供商共享这些图像。预计拟议的系统将极大地促进跨提供商交换医学图像，从而减少重复测试，降低医疗成本，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.