PrintMerge Healthcare, a medical imaging solutions provider, announced the launch of two new web applications, Cedara WebAccess and Cedara WebScheduler, available through its OEM division.
The company said the solutions give health IT software providers plug-in portals that help expedite and automate tasks such as patient and resource scheduling, and image and information distribution. Merge OEM customers have begun to incorporate this technology to bring improved PACS solutions to their own hospital and imaging center customers.
According to a release, the Cedara WebAccess is a completely "thin client" DICOM viewer, providing a new technology for web distribution of radiology images and reports to the referring physician community and beyond. Because of its advanced processing technology, users access images and information without waiting for any application or file to download. It also reduces IT support for tasks such as upgrading existing workstations, managing enterprise-wide installation or performing ongoing configuration changes. Solutions using Cedara WebAccess can also reduce the costs and logistical issues associated with CD burning, film printing and distribution. Cedara WebAccess was designed to be PACS, EMR and HIT solution agnostic. This underlying technology is in use in the recently announced Merge Mobile application, giving the same distribution capabilities on an Apple iPhone or iPod touch.
The company also noted the new Cedara WebScheduler provides a solution for health IT application developers that want to add centralized capabilities for managing and scheduling imaging resources. Standard features include patient scheduling, dashboard monitoring of room utilization and modality worklist management to minimize data entry redundancy and errors. Moreover, the application can be customized per site to account for a customer's modalities, procedures and referring physicians.
One Merge OEM customer, Cassling, has already begun integrating these applications into its PACS solution for healthcare organizations in the Midwest. "Cassling is proud to support Merge OEM's leading-edge technology," said Mike Cassling, president and CEO of Cassling. "As one of the first users and collaborators on the project, we believe WebAccess and WebScheduler address a growing need for affordable, efficient health-care technology."
