Bay Imaging launches eMed’s Web-based retrieval service

The largest radiology practice in Northern California is launching a Web-based image and report retrieval service this week with Lexington, MA-based eMed.

Bay Imaging Consultants of Walnut Creek, CA, has been operating a teleradiology network with eMed for the past two years, covering nine hospitals in three counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ISDN system provides a 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. service with a hospital-based radiologist reading images from the wider Bay Area at a diagnostic workstation.

Bay Imaging has more than 60 radiologists covering all subspecialties. The practice covers 12 hospitals, 12 imaging centers, and more than 2000 referring physicians in Berkeley, Oakland, and the majority of Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties.

eMed Technologies provides Internet-based technology, marketing, and business applications to healthcare professionals who require access to medical image information. Communications infrastructure components to capture, compress, transmit, route, display, and store medical images such as x-rays, MRIs, CTs, and ultrasounds are among the products eMed offers.

The California site is one of several using eMed for Web-based information retrieval. The company has also helped install a medical imaging system at Summit Radiology in Fort Wayne, IN, and is planning to implement systems at Radiology Specialists in Denver and X-Ray Associates in Albuquerque, NM.

Servers will be located in Bay Imaging’s offices. Bay Imaging says implementation of this service will mean shortened results turnaround time and more rapid clinical decision-making.

Traditionally, referring physicians must obtain diagnostic results from a radiologist’s transcribed report that is hand-delivered, faxed, or mailed. In a hospital setting, if referring physicians want access to actual radiological images, they must visit the radiology department. For an outpatient facility, duplicate films must be requested and sent by courier. In most cases, the turnaround time for a report and/or image can take up to 72 hours.

In addition to the retrieval service, the Bay Imaging Web site will have information for referring physicians, practice administrators, and front-office personnel. The available information will help referring physicians describe radiology procedures to patients. It will include location maps, driving directions, and hours of coverage to facilitate patient scheduling by front-office personnel. Radiologist subspecialty training information to help referring physicians identify radiologists needed for consultation will also be included.