East Tennessee Health Information Network Introduces Image Gateway

Knoxville, Tenn. – East Tennessee Health Information Network (etHIN) introduces Image Gateway, a first-of-its-kind system for exchanging patient images that is specific to the East Tennessee healthcare community.

Image Gateway is a feature within the Virtual Health Record (VHR) that has the capability to save time for providers by allowing immediate access to recent and prior imaging studies from connected external PACS.  It may help reduce healthcare costs by eliminating unnecessary duplicate imaging procedures, which can ultimately improve patient safety.  Further, web-based image availability may positively impact the common problems of lost or non-viewable CDs and large file transfers.

By allowing participating providers to view images on etHIN’s zero-footprint Health Viewer® ZF, which is a diagnostic quality image viewer, Image Gateway shortens the process of obtaining images from off-site locations down to seconds when it traditionally can take hours or days to obtain images.

“Image Gateway was chosen as etHIN’s next product because of requests from the community for an effective, low-cost way to exchange images,” said Executive Director Leigh Sterling. “This product reduces hassles for everyone involved with its immediate access to patient images.”

Image Gateway offers users PACS-like manipulation tools and a real-time collaboration feature, which allows multiple clinicians to collaborate on the same imaging exam from wherever they are.

Currently, seven Covenant Health hospitals, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, and Blount Memorial Hospital are providing images through Image Gateway. Several imaging centers in the area have also expressed interest in providing images to the etHIN community through Image Gateway.

For more information on Image Gateway, contact etHIN at 865-691-8433.

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About etHIN: East Tennessee Health Information Network is a Regional Health Information Organization that manages state-of-the-art technology to provide access to patient information by authorized participating health care providers. Its purpose is to create a health care information network that is used by authorized providers, supports improving patient outcomes and helps potentially lower the cost of care. etHIN is a community partnership of local hospital systems, the Knoxville Academy of Medicine, physicians and other community healthcare providers.