Monthly Archives: March 2014

NexxRad Teleradiology Selects Merge Healthcare’s PACS Solution for Radiologists to Streamline Operational Workflow, Reduce Costs and Enhance Clinical Care

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Picture Archiving Communications System to Deliver Real-Time Clinical Data and Enable Seamless Integration of Critical Patient Information Across Teleradiology and Acute Care Settings

 

CHICAGO, March 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Merge Healthcare Incorporated (Nasdaq:MRGE), a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare, today announced NexxRad Teleradiology Partners, provider of professional radiology services via teleradiology, will implement Merge PACS™, Merge’s real-time picture archiving communication system. The partnership will enable NexxRad to store, share and access images throughout the organization and deliver real-time clinical data through pre-fetching technology and seamless integration across its teleradiology and referral networks, streamlining operational workflow, reducing operational costs and enhancing clinical care.

“Our healthcare landscape is changing quickly, and it was critical for NexxRad to find an information technology partner who could help us change with the times and set a foundation for long-term success,” said Michael Gordon, Vice President of Operations at NexxRad. “By implementing Merge PACS, our team of teleradiologists will leverage a solution that’s geared toward our working environment. We have access to customizable capabilities that connect critical patient information across our networks, helping us to focus on our core mission to provide the best quality of care to our patients – rather than the clunky technology.”

Merge PACS will integrate with NexxRIS, NexxRad’s Radiology Information System, for direct access to images and reports, enabling easy navigating of image sets without interruptions to current reads and customizable parameters for imaging exams. In addition, teleradiologists will leverage pre-fetching capabilities to better understand a more complete patient profile for enhanced outcomes and overall patient care.

“NexxRad provides a highly customizable imaging solution within teleradiology, and we understand there are unique needs that must be addressed when it comes to remote reading and reporting especially beyond the four walls of a hospital setting,” said Justin Dearborn, CEO at Merge Healthcare. “We’re happy to partner with NexxRad and provide them with a PACS solution that will help them enhance operational workflow and improve quality of care. This new relationship sets a solid foundation for NexxRad to expand their current teleradiology services and further supports Merge’s dedication to delivering optimal imaging solutions for all facets of the radiology workflow.”

ICD-10 deadline won’t be delayed

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Providers, payers and claims clearinghouses can look for no relief from the looming, Oct. 1 2014 compliance deadline for the nationwide conversion to the ICD-10 family of diagnostic and procedural codes, the head of the CMS said Thursday. But some case-by-case exemptions will be made for providers having a tough time meeting their Stage 2 meaningful-use targets.

Similarly, there will be no rollback of compliance dates for Stage 2, Tavenner said, despite considerable pressure being applied to the agency to further delay compliance dates and add flexibility to its “all or nothing” requirements to meet meaningful-use measures.

For eligible hospitals, the starting date for Stage 2 was Oct. 1, 2013. Those hospitals have only two starting dates left in the program, which operates on a fiscal year, to commence 90 consecutive days of meeting the meaningful-use criteria: April 1 and July 1, 2014.