Merge Healthcare
Merge Healthcare turns to Microsoft® software to help doctors work more collaboratively
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Company Overview
Merge Healthcare is a software solutions company and Microsoft® technology partner based in Mississauga, Ontario, that is focused on the development of software applications and development tools for medical imaging manufacturers.
Business Challenge
Hospitals produce large volumes of X-rays, MRIs and other medical images, and timely delivery of these images to referring physicians is critical to quality patient care. Traditionally, the images are taken with standard x-ray photographic film and sent as hard copies to the referring physician via mail or courier, or scanned and loaded into a database and made accessible on the desktop via proprietary software. Modern hospital environments embrace digital acquisition and store these images in databases. Those digital images are typically accessed through the hospital’s private network. The strict security policies, required infrastructure and administrative overhead make access by authorized medical professionals outside the hospital difficult. Moreover both methods make it hard to share images with colleagues or forward to different hospitals.
Images are important artifacts in patient health diagnoses. Vital patient information, such date of birth, age, sex, medical history, is often not associated with a particular patient’s image. Coupling patient information with procedures and imaging resources as early as possible in the patient visit is key to improved patient assessment.
“Our customers wanted a way to easily access images from the network in a secure way, but also needed a solution that didn’t require them to have access to a hospital computer, or that required them to install a large software solution,” says Carlos Leitao, Chief Technology Officer, Merge Healthcare’s OEM division.
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Solution
To help the medical industry improve imaging workflow, Merge Healthcare developed a suite of browser-based software solutions called Cedara WebAccess and Cedara WebScheduler.
Working within a hospital’s established security processes, Cedara WebAccess allows approved physicians to access image archives via a browser and manipulate the display of these images using image manipulation tools available in current desktop solutions. It also gives users the ability to add notes and annotations that are viewable by other doctors.
Merge Healthcare developers took advantage of the web security features of .NET Framework 3.5 and the 2005 and 2008 versions of Microsoft Visual Studio® to build the new, web-based solutions quickly and securely. For the application server, the company used IIS and ASP.NET as the web application framework. To help reliably manage and share the images, Merge OEM built a database based on Microsoft SQL Server® 2005, which is tightly integrated with Visual Studio.
“As the images need to be viewed from outside the hospital, it was imperative the applications adhered to the healthcare industry’s strict security standards. This is why we chose Visual Studio, ASP.NET and the .NET Framework 3.5,” says Leitao. “We found that by leveraging the web application framework in ASP.NET and the powerful .NET Framework for the business logic coupled to our own Cedara OpenEyes™ .NET medical imaging framework we were able to develop the applications quite quickly – within six months.”
Given the large, detailed nature of the images, Merge Healthcare developers took advantage of ASP.NET and Javascript to help build a browser-based user interface that would appeal to medical workers.
“Hospitals need to access the data quickly and easily, so we needed to allow for constant communication between the browser and the server. This can be difficult to achieve, but ASP.NET gave us the ability to make large, high-quality images viewable over the web,” says Leitao. “It also allowed us to create a user experience that is very pleasing, one that actually enhances the imaging workflow.”
Business Benefits
Today, hospitals can deploy applications with Cedara WebAccess and Cedara WebScheduler to help manage images more efficiently. “These products reduce the occurrence of data-entry mistakes, improve access to medical images and information outside the hospital and reduce the administrative costs of deploying and maintaining such solutions,” says Leitao.
Easy access from anywhere
Previously, doctors could only use designated hospital computers to retrieve image information, and had no way of viewing them outside the hospital. By taking advantage of a browser-based solution, doctors now have the ability to access the information from anywhere.
“Today any authorized doctor can log into that system and view images on any computer,” says Leitao. “Hospitals can get the images off the server and into the hands of doctors, who can view the images on a variety of devices using web browser technology. For instance a radiologist can access files from home or a mobile device if need be.”
The browser-based interface, powered by Visual Studio 2008 and ASP.NET, has also received positive feedback from doctors. “When we actually showed them the Silverlight™ version of the technology, they were very excited and engaged by its features and user experience,” says Leitao.
Managing large medical data files
Hospitals no longer have to manage large volumes of physical x-rays and other large image files that are extremely difficult to transfer. Today, those files can be viewed at any location without placing a strain on limited network, bandwidth and security resources.
“With Cedara WebAccess a doctor in Ontario can log in securely and get access to an image residing in British Columbia, attach a report to it and place it back in the archive. This increase in medical workflow, now that it's electronic, can be facilitated on any scope – provincial, national or global,” says Leitao.
Improved scheduling
Previously, hospitals or clinics staff would manually book an X-ray or MRI and place relevant appointment information into a separate file that would reside apart from the resulting images. There was no solution that could help them tie patient information to an image, which can help facilitate schedule follow-ups or future appointments.
“Cedara WebScheduler facilitates finding and booking a timeslot for a scanner that is appropriate for the required procedure. It then allows accurate communication of patient and procedure information to the scanner and subsequently to the images themselves. Not only does it help find the time slot for the right machine, but it also ensures the proper test is linked to the patient. The consistency and continuity of information is of critical importance. No one wants an x-ray done on the wrong body part, for example,” says Leitao.
Furthermore, the MergeOEM solutions helps prevent minor administrative errors, saving time and money.
“With Cedara WebScheduler, clinicians can make sure that the right scan is taken and that the anatomy was in the correct orientation as prescribed by the procedure. If not, the diagnostic read on might be useless. Such common medical errors can add up to a lot of lost revenue,” says Leitao.
Future versions
Merge Healthcare developers are already looking to the next versions of Cedara WebAccess and Cedara WebScheduler and are particularly interested in leveraging Microsoft Silverlight™ technology and Windows Presentation Foundation to strengthen the user experience.
“We are excited to incorporate Silverlight into our next versions,” says Leitao. “It will allow us to build an even better graphic capability and smoother user interface. Being on the leading edge of new technologies is critical to our strategy.”
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is the world’s most popular development environment for designing, developing, and testing next-generation Windows-based solutions and Web applications and services. By improving the development experience for Windows, the Web, mobile devices, and Microsoft Office, Visual Studio 2008 helps organizations deliver a variety of solutions more productively than ever before. Visual Studio Team System expands the product line with new software tools that enable greater communication and collaboration throughout the development life cycle. With Visual Studio 2008, businesses can deliver modern service-oriented solutions more efficiently.
For more information about Visual Studio 2008, go to: msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Merge Healthcare’s OEM Division products and services, call 416.450.0037 or visit the Web site at www.merge.com
