Partners HealthCare has selected Visage Imaging to facilitate interoperability among all of its practices.

The native Australian provider has been tasked with connecting together the departments of the nonprofit’s acute hospitals for enhanced communication of findings, by replacing each one’s individual PACS system with the Visage 7 Enterprise Imaging Platform.

"Until now, the radiology departments across Partners, including those at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, have maintained separate diagnostic imaging storage, viewing and reporting platforms," Tarik K. Alkasab, M.D., radiology service chief of informatics and IT at MGH, told HCB News. "With the creation of the enterprise platform, all departments at institutions across the system will be unified, improving both the patient and provider experience."

The decision to implement an enterprise system falls in line with the organization’s Partners 2.0 initiative, designed to improve efficiency and provide opportunities for greater patient and provider experience across the health system.

A single diagnostic viewer, Visage 7, is designed for all forms of imaging, including MR, CT, ultrasound and X-ray. It is backed by a vendor-neutral archive by GE and enables users to view imaging from any Partners hospital, whether they are in the office or operating room. This saves time for both patients and providers.

The product is also configured with matching algorithms and intelligent layouts, such as Auto-Prior rules and native thin-client advanced visualization tools, to automatically display any combination of current and prior studies, regardless of size or modality. These capabilities were among many showcased at the Radiological Society of North America in November.

"Visage has a stellar reputation that we have evaluated through extensive due diligence and the successful completion of a proof-of-concept," said Alkasab. "We're excited to bring the advanced capabilities of Visage 7 to the Radiologists of MGH and BWH and eventually to the departments across the Partners system in our continuing efforts to improve patient care."

Partners HealthCare was founded in 1994 by Brigham Women’s Health and Massachusetts General Hospital, and today consists of both academic hospitals, as well as community and specialty hospitals, community health centers, a physician network, a managed care organization, home health and long-term care services, and other health-related entities.

The company is currently in the process of installing the platform at BWH and MGH.

Additional Partners institutes are scheduled to receive the same system during phase two of the project.

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