BOSTON, MA – lifeIMAGE (www.lifeimage.com), provider of the medical image e-sharing platform, today announced an agreement to deploy its diagnostic image sharing technology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Yale-New Haven will use the platform to collect and share critical diagnostic imaging information in its new Smilow Cancer Hospital and within the trauma unit during emergency transfers from remote locations.

Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven will use lifeIMAGE's lila InBox to create a diagnostic image management interface that everyone from the front desk administrator to the physician can use to upload or access patient medical imaging information, and then nominate it to the picture archiving and communication system (PACS). lila InBox (http://www.lifeimage.com/solution/lilaenterprise/) receives, manages and shares portable media (typically patient CDs) within an enterprise, improving work flow and ensuring the appropriate medical teams have access to patient exam information. 

lifeIMAGE's medical image e-sharing platform allows patients, physicians and hospitals to electronically collect, share and view diagnostic imaging records from any facility, which solves the issue of CD incompatibility (current medium for image sharing), reduces time and cost associated with redundant exams, and avoids excessive radiation exposure for patients. 

"At Yale-New Haven Hospital, we strive to ensure patients' medical imaging records are captured and shared as efficiently as possible, and that exams are instantly available to all relevant clinicians," said Michael Matthews, director, clinical imaging & information systems, Yale-New Haven Hospital. "The ability to load and access imaging information in advance of the patient's appointment with our clinicians is a great leap forward in improved productivity and patient care. We experience more than 500,000 outpatient visits per year. Countless patients arrive with copies of prior imaging exams on CDs. Ingesting that information into our clinical information systems must be an extremely efficient process."

For the Yale-New Haven trauma team (the only designated Level 1 Trauma Center for adult and pediatric patients in Connecticut), the lifeIMAGE TIME (Trauma Image Management & Exchange) (http://www.lifeimage.com/time/) solution is a strategic clinical tool that helps trauma units collect diagnostic imaging information early, and instantly share it with surgical teams and other care providers. By electronically receiving imaging data before a transfer is even initiated, hospitals have more time to prepare and avoid repeat exams when the transfer patients arrive.

"Our singular focus at lifeIMAGE is building a clinically valuable network for sharing diagnostic imaging information. We believe healthcare systems can and should strive to avoid duplicating exams and excessive radiation through practical means of access to patients' prior imaging history. Our technology platform helps bring down the barriers to useful exchange of vital health information, currently kept in silos," said Hamid Tabatabaie, president and chief executive officer, lifeIMAGE. "To that end, our platform delivers various applications and use cases that are incrementally adopted by hospitals on their terms. It is fantastically gratifying to have the opportunity to work with Yale-New Haven Hospital, one of the most prestigious and progressive medical centers in the world."

In the past four months, lifeIMAGE has been selected by 10 hospitals that are all represented on the U.S. News & World Report list of America's Best Hospitals. lifeIMAGE customers perform nearly four million imaging exams annually.