Digital referral allows clinics or imaging centers to quickly and easily forward imaging studies to clinical specialists at other institutions for supplemental diagnosis.  Communicator accepts DICOM input from any modality or PACS system and automatically forwards imaging studies directly to a pre-designated location  or  to the Communicator Central Server where they become accessible from a Communicator Workstation by any authorized users that you specify. As an additional service, Connex MD has partnered with several medical centers across Washington state to provide a referral network for on-demand consultation.

For example, an OB/GYN practice may want to forward fetal-echo studies to a Cardiologist for supplemental review and diagnosis. Or a Cardiology office practice may need to forward pediatric echo studies to a Pediatric Cardiologist for supplemental diagnosis.

Physicians who practice at relatively isolated locations, where there is limited access to clinical specialists, face a particularly difficult situation. If a patient presents with an obscure or rarely seen condition, a determination must be made as to whether the patient needs to be referred immediately to a specialist facility for a complete diagnosis, or if the study data can be sent by conventional means such as regular mail with the associated wait for the specialist’s response. Digital Referral allows the study data to be sent securely over the Internet to the remote specialist who can provide a provisional diagnosis almost immediately with a complete report within 12-24 hours. For example, pediatric echo exams performed by a physician on Guam can be quickly forwarded to a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Washington for immediate review, diagnosis and clinical decision making.

Satellite Clinics are a special case of digital referral, where an outlying facility performs the imaging exam but forwards all the studies to another facility for review and diagnosis.   Communicator can be used in this way to provide specialized diagnostic imaging services to rural communities where the cost of a resident diagnostician would be otherwise prohibitive.

 

Benefits

• Digital Referral reduces the number of patients that have to be referred physically to a specialist and thus eliminates the cost of performing duplicate imaging exams. As a result, the technical fee is retained by the attending physician and only the professional fee is paid to the specialist.
• Digital Referral allows a definitive diagnosis to be made more quickly, which reduces stress for patient and parents, spouse and relatives. Clinical decisions regarding treatment / transfer of the patient are also expedited.
• Practices that are able to provide a definitive diagnosis in a timely manner are likely to be become the provider of choice for patients as well as the referral preference of other physicians.
• Extends the reach of your PACS to make your imaging studies accessible anywhere there is an Internet connection
• Access to one of the premier medical facilities in the State, the University of Washington Medical Center allows a remote facility to seamlessly offer the premier services.
• Eliminates the need for expensive T-1 lines to directly connect associated facilities for image transfer.

Components

• Communicator Gateway
• Communicator Central Server (optional)
• Communicator Mobile Workstation (optional)

Washington Imaging Network

The “Washington Imaging Network” (“WIN”) is a collaboration between the University of Washington Department of Radiology and Connex MD. We have developed the software capable of transferring images and reports anywhere within a grid of participating institutions.  This idea has the support of the Washington State Hospital Association and the Washington State Radiologic Society. Its purpose is to provide a cost effective method for transferring diagnostic images and associated reports securely, using readily available Internet connections. Hospitals participating in WIN will be able to quickly and easily forward studies for expert sub specialty interpretation to other centers on the network at anytime. Such a network will improve the quality of patient care while constraining costs by reducing the need for repeat examinations. Additional benefits of participating in WIN could include creation of individualized radiation dose reporting for every patient.   The imaging network is highly secure, exceeding the standard used for transferring financial data between banking institutions. The Communicator technology used to implement WIN has received FDA 510k clearance and fully supports the HIPAA guidelines for managing the security of patient information.