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OhioHealth: Images to Go
By Julie Ritzer Ross
 Immediate access to patient information is a powerful catalyst for improving the caliber of care in the radiology sector, as well as in other clinical disciplines. For OhioHealth (Columbus), enabling the mobile communications network to handle images represents the next step in enhancing physician collaboration and physician–patient communication, thereby raising the bar on patient care throughout the organization.
OhioHealth encompasses, among other entities, eight member hospitals, nine affiliated hospitals, and 23 freestanding health and surgery centers that serve 40 counties in Central Ohio. In 2003, it implemented the Synapse® PACS from FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA (Stamford, Connecticut). The centralized PACS is administered by the OhioHealth information-services division, which is staffed by about 350 IT associates. Chuck Baker serves as the division’s PACS manager. He says that in fall 2010, Fujifilm approached OhioHealth about beta testing its Synapse Mobility application, which renders images and information stored in Synapse PACS available to radiologists and physicians using handheld devices.
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Devising—and Enforcing—an Imaging Mobility Policy
By Greg Thompson
 When radiologists Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston dropped off their wireless devices at the information-services department, it was a sign of the times. On a mission to verify proper encryption, IT gurus examined all manner of devices—hard drives, flash drives, tablets, and smartphones.
Whether purchased by the hospital or radiologists, if the tools of the mobile technology trade could access the medical-imaging system, they had to be checked. In fact, iPhones® were forbidden until the release of iOS 3.3, which included the use of encryption and long, strong passwords, according to Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, vice chair of radiology, informatics, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He describes the initiative as part of an organized effort to solidify policies, procedures, and security measures that govern how mobile devices access imaging-informatics systems.
A lack of hardware standardization complicates matters, but Dreyer believes that radiologists can be trusted to acquire the proper technological specifications as progress inevitably creates more options. “Speaking as a physician, I would definitely not prefer standard hardware,” Dreyer says. “Functionality will exist on some devices and not others, such as 4G versus 3G network devices. Some will have a camera or a microphone, and some might have a bigger screen, where you might be able to view images. If you tried to impose a standard in such a fast-moving environment, I do not think it would work.”
Whatever laptop, tablet, or smartphone a radiologist happens to choose, a login with a roaming number that changes every 30 seconds must be entered to access the system at MGH. “We have role-based restrictions, so only caregivers have access,” Dreyer explains. “If a patient wants to know who has seen his or her records, we must also produce an audit trail and justify why each individual was looking at a particular record. For physicians who do not have a direct relationship with the hospital, we have even tighter restricted access.”
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Not Just Another App: Managing Mobility at UPMC
By Cheryl Proval
 The thought of health IT leaders managing the mobility trend conjures up images of Heracles attempting to slay the multiheaded Hydra. Every time he cut off one head, two more grew in its place: Think iOS®, Android®, Symbian®, BlackBerry®, Windows®, and bada®, with Mango and other mobile platforms in the wings.
Accommodating network users’ mobile devices of choice while protecting personally identifiable information is a challenge, according to Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA. In addition to his role as medical director of digital imaging informatics across the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) enterprise of 20 hospitals and 30 imaging centers, the board-certified radiologist also is responsible for interoperability and emerging technologies, as enterprise vice president for medical information technologies. “On the mobility side, our strategy toward embracing what’s out there on the mobile platforms is an evolving one,” he acknowledges. “I’d be wrong if I said that it’s solid and complete, and we’re at the finish line. We are very much at the start, but we’ve made some good strides.”
As he embarks on the mobility journey at UPMC, Shrestha is taking a stepwise approach to rolling out new applications with zero footprints and thin clients, working closely with vendors, and focusing on leveraging the form factor to improve patient care (while staying one step ahead of enterprise users).
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Even the VA Caves
Bowing to demand, the highly security conscious VA will begin allowing use of iPhones® and iPads® (Apple, Cupertino, California) for certain purposes on October 1, 2011. VA staff members are currently limited to using BlackBerry® (Research In Motion, Waterloo, Ontario) devices.
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How One Hospital System Tamed iOS
Adventist Health System addressed security concerns about iOS® by using a virtual-desktop solution from Citrix® (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), but the system’s information-services division expects limited use of the most sought-after application because the iPad form factor is mismatched with the design application of the electronic medical record.
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Employee-owned Mobile Devices Spook IT Professionals
The Information Systems Audit and Control Association, a nonprofit, global association for IT professionals, polled its 95,000 members to discover their positions on various security issues; managing mobile devices is a key concern across industries.
Access the North American survey results
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CMS Reports Increase in MU Attestations
Despite a slow start, attestations and payments for meaningful use of electronic health records are beginning to increase in volume, according to preliminary data released by CMS.
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CHIME Fall CIO Forum
Sponsored by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives
October 25–28
San Antonio, Texas
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RSNA 2011: Celebrate the Image
Sponsored by the RSNA
November 27–December 2
Chicago, Illinois
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HIMSS 12 Annual Conference and Exhibit
Sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
February 20–24, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
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