Australian digital referral platform Consultmed has integrated with medical imaging platform Aurabox, allowing diagnostic-quality images to be sent with referrals between public and private healthcare providers.
The integration allows DICOM studies, including MRI, CT, X-ray and ultrasound images, to travel with a Consultmed referral across providers and state borders.
Consultmed manages referral routing, virtual triage, tracking and two-way communication, while Aurabox provides collection, storage and browser-based viewing of DICOM imaging.
The referring clinician or patient can attach imaging studies to a referral, which carries a secure connection to the images rather than a copy.
Receiving clinicians can then access the images through single sign-on from Consultmed or through a secure authenticated link, without needing to install additional software.
The companies said the integration is designed to address difficulties sharing imaging between organisations that do not use the same radiology information system, picture archiving and communication system or imaging repository.
Aurabox co-founder and radiologist Dr Chaturica Athukorala said clinicians could often receive a written radiology report but still need to search across different systems for the underlying images.
“This integration changes that workflow. The referral, report and diagnostic imaging can arrive together, giving the receiving team the information they need from the outset to triage the referral, review the case and plan the next steps in care,” Dr Athukorala said.
“The imaging can also be retained within the receiving health service’s PACS for ongoing clinical review, reducing duplication and removing the need for clinicians or patients to repeatedly track down imaging later in the care pathway.”
The integration can also be used for second opinions, research and education and sharing imaging between states and territories.
Consultmed CEO and consultant paediatrician Associate Professor Vikram Palit said clinicians had traditionally relied on private radiology portals and physical media to access images held outside their health service.
“Private and public imaging providers often don’t talk to each other, and no single practice can fix that. Aurabox has solved the secure imaging sharing side and we have solved the referral side,” Professor Palit said.
The integration comes after new Share by Default requirements took effect on July 1, requiring pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to be uploaded to My Health Record by default, subject to exemptions and extensions.
The requirements apply to written diagnostic imaging reports but not the images themselves.
Professor Palit said the Aurabox integration allowed the images to travel with the referral while the written report could also be available through My Health Record.
Add Comment