Agfa HealthCare Facilitates Access to Patient Information and its Clinical Use Between Ontario Hospitals

HDIRS project achieves imaging management milestone and helps Ontario hospitals access and utilize comprehensive patient information

TORONTO, ONTARIO-- Feb. 24, 2009-

Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, today announced the Hospital Diagnostic Imaging Repository Services (HDIRS) digital imaging repository project (DI-r) is fully operational - and facilitating data and image sharing and clinical use between all Agfa HealthCare sites involved in the project. Currently in its second year of a three year implementation strategy, this is an important milestone for the HDIRS project, as accessing and utilizing patient information and images is the first step to helping Ontario hospitals improve collaboration, decrease wait times and improve the delivery of patient care.

Live since October 1, 2008, the HDIRS DI-r is now able to securely send, store and retrieve patient images and reports for more than 1.3 million exams annually, utilizing Agfa HealthCare's IMPAX® solution. The HDIRS project is part of the Canada Health Infoway initiative to implement reliable and secure health information systems, with the ultimate goal of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for every Canadian. As an integral part of this project, Agfa HealthCare has implemented the IMPAX Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) digital imaging technology and a DI-r to centrally and securely store patient images and reports while facilitating file sharing across the HDIRS network.

"Over the last few months HDIRS has made significant progress taking the data centre live and connecting to the digital imaging repository," said Pat Ryan, General Manager, HDIRS. "This unique collaboration will bring significant cost savings and operational efficiencies to participating HDIRS healthcare organizations, and will also help to reduce patient wait times."

Currently the HDIRS project is incorporating the use of patient health card numbers into the data sharing process. Health card numbers will be used to provide healthcare professionals with longitudinal access to patient records, allowing physicians to view a patient's full diagnostic imaging history - regardless of where the images were acquired and the patient reports filed.

"It has been exciting to watch this project evolve and see how it is transforming the delivery of patient care for local residents - but we have only scratched the surface of what this means for hospitals across Ontario," said Dave Wilson, Vice-President, Agfa HealthCare in Canada. "As we continue to connect provincial healthcare facilities in the HDIRS network, we will see firsthand how IMPAX and the DI-r can contribute to improved operational efficiencies and to the national eHealth initiative."

In September 2008, the HDIRS project received the Showcase Ontario 2008 Merit Award in the Working Together category at the Showcase Ontario conference. Selected from more than 90 submissions, the award recognized the successful partnership between 23 hospital corporations. When completed, hospital staff across 35 Ontario hospital sites will have real-time access to comprehensive patient information and the ability to access and utilize images and reports electronically.