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Improving Speed, Portability
and Interoperability
How Community Health Network offered its physicians convenience and mobility through
secure imaging solutions
Community Health Network | Berlin, Wisconsin
CUSTOMER PROFILE
• M
ember of the Rural Wisconsin
Healthcare Cooperative
• S
mall, acute-care [number of]-bed
hospital located in Berlin, WI
• F
ifty internal and external physicians,
plus four radiologists
CUSTOMER CHALLENGES
• M
anage finite financial resources
• N
eed to improve portability,
interoperability with internal and
referring physicians
The year was 2011, and smartphones and tablets were gaining widespread popularity.
As Mike Frank, IT director at Community Health Network (CHN) in Berlin, WI, recalls:
“Physicians were walking in my door on a regular basis asking, ‘Why can’t I look at my
patients’ images on my phone? Why can’t I look at them on my tablet?’”
CHN’s imaging experience is widespread. Because physicians and other providers are
constantly on the move, it is essential to ensure secure access to patients’ images in a
variety of ways – not just within the confines of a stationary viewing system.
Challenged with limited mobility – and resources
These questions were being asked at just about the same time CHN was looking to
upgrade its aging IT systems. The idea was to provide CHN’s 50 internal and external
physicians with more affordable mobile, state-of-the-art image viewing, sharing and
storage capabilities.
• N
eed to increase patient throughput
SUCCESS WITH MERGE
• C
ost-effective solutions from one
vendor dramatically improved
operational efficiency
• E
nhanced relationship with
referring physicians due to
increased portability and speed in
processing and exchanging images,
reports and other data
• Improved physician and patient
satisfaction
MERGE SOLUTIONS
• M
erge PACS™
• iConnect® Access
• iConnect® Cloud Archive
• iConnect® Enterprise Archive
As a member of the Rural Wisconsin Healthcare Cooperative, CHN operates several
facilities to serve the healthcare needs of families in East Central Wisconsin, including
Berlin Memorial Hospital, an acute-care facility in Berlin, WI.
For years, CHN had done very well with its technologies, which included Merge PACS™,
the picture archiving and communication system the hospital purchased from Merge
Healthcare in 2006. However, by 2011, physicians were having difficulty viewing the
CDs that were burned in different formats on a wide variety of increasingly outdated
systems. They were also experiencing other technical complications, such as painfully
slow file sharing and file-opening speeds. And, of course, they no longer wanted to be
tied to their computers to view medical images.
But how was CHN to address such challenges? As a relatively small network with finite
financial resources, the organization had to identify a solution that didn’t just bring it up
to date in terms of capabilities, but did so at an affordable cost.
Complete solution from one vendor
Fortunately, CHN didn’t have to look far. The provider network had purchased
Merge PACS as part of a “large investment in a diagnostic imaging strategy and
was well acquainted with the quality, reliability and dependability of Merge
technology,” Frank stated. “We did consider other vendors, but really it was a
clear-cut choice to stick with Merge,” he said.
“Community Health
Network’s internal
and referring
physicians are able to
view images on their
smartphones, their iPads®,
anything like that. They can
look at images wherever and
whenever they want, any
place, any time. Merge’s
iConnect solutions have
been a huge asset to
our organization.”
Mike Frank, Director of IT,
Community Health Network
(Berlin, Wisconsin)
CHN ultimately added three Merge solutions for a complete, cost-effective
approach, including: iConnect® Access, which provides image-viewing and sharing
capabilities in a single solution; iConnect® Cloud Archive, which provides cloudbased offsite storage and disaster-recovery capability and iConnect® Enterprise
Archive, a vendor-neutral archive (VNA) that provides central, on-site image-storage
and viewing capabilities.
Success with Merge
As a result, Frank believes image viewing, sharing and storage features have
improved dramatically. For example, the zero-footprint viewer that comes with
iConnect Access is especially valuable. Frank says, “The network’s internal and
referring physicians are able to view images on their smartphones, their tablets
or iPads®, anything like that. They no longer have to go through the bulky viewers
they used to have. They can look at images when they’re at dinner, on call —
wherever and whenever they want, any place, any time.”
In addition, leveraging iConnect Enterprise Archive and iConnect Cloud Archive
has added storage safety and security at an affordable cost. “From a resources
standpoint, we know the data’s safe and more secure than if we tried to reinvent
the wheel in-house in terms of a data-backup or disaster recovery strategy,” said
Frank. “We don’t have to worry about it. It’s great peace of mind to know that the
records are in a standard format and safe and accessible from anywhere.”
The bottom line, Frank concluded, is short and simple: “Merge’s iConnect solutions
have been a huge asset to our organization.”
About Merge
Merge is a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability
and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare. Merge’s enterprise and
cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties provide access to any
image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides clinical trials software with
end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and
analytics solutions. With solutions that have been used by providers for more than
25 years, Merge is helping to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance the
quality of healthcare worldwide. For more information, visit merge.com and follow
us @MergeHealthcare.
09/2014
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