During the past 18 months the organization has integrated many other types of images into the EHR as well, using the Imaging Clinical Information System platform and vendor-neutral archive of Agfa Healthcare.
But the task is not done and no one can say when it will be, says Cheryl Petersilge, M.D., chair of radiology at Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio and medical director of the imaging integration initiative at Cleveland Clinic. More images from more places across the 10-hospital delivery system keep popping up. “Every time we turn around, there’s a new place asking us to integrate their images.”
Images and reports currently in the archive that physicians query via the EHR come from radiology, ophthalmology, endoscopy, wound care and many different types of ultrasound systems. “Who knew how many images ophthalmologists create?” Petersilge asks. “They’re among our biggest customers and I would never have guessed that.”
