IBM and Merge Healthcare to Develop Advanced Medical Imaging Technology

With new medical software technology, medical professionals can now view images using a mobile device or desktop computer without waiting for medical imaging films, accessing a specialized system, or downloading cumbersome files.

With the help of IBM (Armonk, NY, USA), Merge Healthcare (Milwaukee, WI,USA) is providing physicians, radiologists, and other medical professionals easier access to medical images including X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scans. Merge Healthcare's new technology can help medical professionals quickly view emergency cases, consult with colleagues, and forward critical findings.

Merge Healthcare is making this technology breakthrough possible with Cedara WebAccess, a new solution created with the help of software from IBM. The first applications based on Cedara WebAccess will include systems that deliver medical images to an iPhone or iPod touch, physician portals, and other Web-based systems that should decrease the medical profession's reliance on traditional image delivery methods.

Although healthcare professionals have invested in ways to expedite access to medical images and reduce waste associated with paper reports and film, current imaging requires specialized systems or computers that can accommodate large file downloads. Merge Healthcare's Cedara WebAccess technology furthers this initiative by eliminating the need for specialized systems and additional computer storage capacity.

Merge Healthcare uses two of IBM's software change and configuration management products, IBM Telelogic Synergy and IBM Telelogic Change. The relationship with IBM allows Merge Healthcare to simplify the process of managing changes throughout the life of software products and helps get the greatest value out of the software they develop. With their unifying central change and release management repository, Telelogic Synergy and Change ensure that all processes for the development and delivery of software can be defined, implemented, automated, visualized, and managed collaboratively.

According to Merge Healthcare original equipment manufacturer (OEM) division president Toni Wells, the communication and management capabilities of the IBM software products allow Merge Healthcare to maintain the product integrity, regulatory compliance, and time-to-market needs. "The medical field is highly dependent on software, which significantly enhances delivery of patient care. Merge Healthcare OEM provides our customers with the software functionality that differentiates their products from their competitors,” Ms. Wells explained. "We rely on Telelogic Synergy and Telelogic Change to manage the complexity of the software we develop, and to ensure that our global development teams operate as one, for the best result to our customers.”

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