Nuance, ACR, MGH Join Forces for Information Exchange

CHICAGO - Nuance Communications, Inc. announced today that the American College of Radiology (ACR) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will leverage the Nuance PowerShare Network, a cloud-based medical image exchange that brings clinical guidelines to the radiologist’s workflow and automates the process of collecting and reporting quality measures to meet industry regulations and guidelines.

ACR and MGH are among the first to join the PowerShare Network, which Nuance claims is the industry’s largest cloud-based medical imaging exchange. With ACR and MGH joining the PowerShare Network, the Network platform opens up to other innovators and third parties to leverage the power of PowerShare and Nuance PowerScribe reporting through a cloud model to deliver clinical content and value-added services to a wider audience, Nuance announced.

The PowerShare Innovation Program will be unveiled at RSNA and will urge the radiology community to collaborate and promote advancements in overall patient care and financial integrity, Nuance said.

“The ACR is making it easier for radiologists to participate in national registries and federal regulatory programs, which are so important for demonstrating value in healthcare,” Mike Tilkin, chief information officer & executive vice president, American College of Radiology, said in a release. “By providing a connectivity framework that leverages tools such as PowerShare, we automate the process of collecting and submitting Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) quality measures and other registry data on behalf of radiologists. Also, by integrating our nationally recognized clinical guidance with tools such as PowerScribe, we enhance the reporting process by providing critical information to the radiologist when it is most useful - in-context and during interpretation. These two programs are a huge step forward for the practice of Imaging 3.0.”

MGH will deliver an initial set of radiology clinical decision support guidelines to the broader radiology community by integrating them into the PowerScribe workflow, Nuance said. This will provide radiologists access to the evidence-based guidelines at the point of interpretation. Nuance will utilize the PowerShare Network to digitally share with providers any updates to the clinical guidelines.