This new feature allows patients to be able to view and forward their exams to physicians and care providers of their choosing and download images. Expanding these services to image-enable the FH patient portal represents one of the first initiatives in the U.S. that provides patients with ready access to their images, coupled with the ability to securely forward them to other caregivers with ease.
Frederick Health provided patients with their imaging on CDs – a time-consuming and expensive process as over 1,500 CDs were burned per month. Patients had to drive to a facility to pick-up images or wait for the CD to arrive in the mail. Oftentimes, referring physicians also struggled with opening CDs in their office due to the numerous plugins, passwords, and settings required.
Since Access My Images went live on the FH site, there have been over 900 logins in the first three months of the program. Once a patient completes their imaging, they are given a login to receive images within 2 hours of the procedure. This allows patients to be able to view and forward their exams to physicians and care providers of their choosing and download images on a PC, USB, or burn to a CD. The report arrives in the patient portal about 36 hours later, and patients can watch an educational video on the patient portal to arm them with best practices. Patients, including the large baby boomer population in the region, have found the Access My Images feature very easy to use.
Ambra Health had been powering image exchange across the Frederick Health network since 2012, allowing authorized users immediate access to view, compare, collaborate, and transfer images to any hospital or imaging center in the community. Today, over 16 Ambra gateways are in use to seamlessly route medical images across the network.
“We’ve seen that it provides peace of mind, especially if a patient needs imaging while traveling/away from doctor.”
– Brian Petrie, PACS Administrator, Frederick Health
Frederick Health has used Ambra to image-enable several other systems including NextGen EMR. This allows the unification of patient health records and management of imaging directly from within the patient jacket. In addition, orders involving imaging can be placed, processed, viewed, and completed from within the EMR or EHR.
Many smaller practices on the network have even replaced traditional on-site hardware PACS with Ambra’s Cloud PACS. The Cloud PACs consolidates multiple imaging systems into one flexible, customizable, and low maintenance platform. Easy-to-use Modality Worklist and flexible routing rules drive better productivity for staff and physicians alike.
