Community Health Network, Inc. Selects iConnect(R) and Merge Honeycomb(TM) for …

CHICAGO, Jun 1, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — Merge Healthcare Incorporated /quotes/zigman/109871/quotes/nls/mrge MRGE -2.08% , a number one provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to remodel healthcare, today announced Community Health Network, Inc. (CHN) has selected Merge Healthcare’s iConnect(R) VNA and iConnect(R) Access to offer real-time access to pictures and data among its network of providers and referring physicians. CHN has also selected Merge Honeycomb(TM) to supply cloud-based image storage.

“Our enterprise-wide approach includes three components,” said Mike Bartman, CIO, Community Health Network. “First, we needed to make certain all of our physicians and referring docs had access to photographs wherever they were. Then we needed to consolidate our onsite image storage into one vendor neutral archive. Lastly, we wanted to maneuver our long-term archive to the cloud. We were ready to try this with Merge, and because of this i feel we are going to be capable to provide a faster and broader exchange of health information so that you can help us improve patient care.”

“Apart from improving care, we believe our enterprise imaging strategy with Merge might help us financially,” continued Bartman. “Because iConnect Access is a nil-footprint, web-based viewer referring physicians can view images anywhere, including on mobile devices, and get immediate access to reports. And with the iConnect VNA, all the information is immediately fed into our Meditech EMR. All of this makes it easier for referring physicians to work with us.”

“As well as their image interoperability strategy, Community Health Network has embraced the cloud for enterprise-wide image storage,” said Jeff Surges, CEO of Merge Healthcare. “While many are talking about it, CHN is de facto doing it. With Merge Honeycomb’s archive application, CHN has virtualized its hardware and may eliminate the countless hours and dollars linked to the normal method to image archiving.”

Merge Honeycomb is a cloud-based platform that gives a brand new and innovative approach to share, manage and store diagnostic images. For providers, the load of managing images could be overwhelming as a single image can require 2GB or more in storage. It is usually expensive as new storage regulations require multiple copies and that image data be stored for years. The Merge Honeycomb archiving application will provide a protracted-term storage option which will store images securely, in multiple locations and be accessible anytime, anywhere without the effort of onsite storage management, power, cooling and bandwidth.

Merge’s iConnect suite is the industry’s only comprehensive solution for collecting, archiving, viewing, sharing and exchanging any kind of image, anywhere, any time. It includes iConnect Access*, a nil-download DICOM image and XDS server and iConnect VNA, a vendor neutral archive to create an enterprise imaging strategy. It really works with existing applications, leveraging widely-used web and healthcare technology standards, to produce a vendor neutral interoperable environment.

*iConnect Access isn’t very FDA-cleared for diagnostic use on mobile devices.

About Merge Healthcare

Merge is a number one provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to remodel healthcare. Merge’s enterprise and cloud-based solutions for image intensive specialties provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides health stations, clinical trials software and other health data and analytics solutions that engage consumers of their personal health. With solutions which are utilized by providers and consumers and include greater than two decades of innovation, Merge helps to scale back costs and improve the standard of healthcare worldwide. For additional information, visit merge.com.

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About Community Health Network, Inc.

Community Health Network (CHN) provides a continuum of high-quality health services and comprehensive care to people of every age within the east central Wisconsin area. CHN provides preventative programs, primary and long-term care, hospital-based services and residential health care through its network of 2 hospitals, a nursing home, nearly two dozen outlying community clinics, a retail pharmacy and a rehabilitation program serving nine surrounding communities.

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SOURCE: Merge Healthcare

        CONTACT: Media Contact:
        Brenda Stewart
        Director, Marketing Communications
        312.540.6622 | brenda.stewart@merge.com
        

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