McKesson Acquires Vivalog to Provide Case Sharing and Clinical Conferencing

McKesson Corp. (Atlanta, GA, USA) has acquired Vivalog LLC (Seattle, WA, USA), a leading provider of web-based systems, including its MyPACS net (mypacs.net) medical imaging reference site, which enable radiologists, cardiologists, and other imaging specialists to efficiently organize and share, image and reference case information needed during daily practice.

This Vivalog product range extends current hospital imaging and information management systems with reference case management and clinical conferencing capabilities that result in rich, multimedia knowledge repositories to assist in diagnostics as well as research and training.

"Currently, radiologists and cardiologists spend considerable time every day manually preparing and searching for documented reference cases for clinical rounds, conferences, training, and research projects, using inadequate tools,” said Joe Biegel, vice president, product management, McKesson's Medical Imaging Group. "With this solution, McKesson can help healthcare organizations improve their bottom line. Imaging specialists will be able to spend fewer hours each week preparing for rounds and conferences, freeing up more time for patient care and revenue-generating activities. Furthermore, this solution offers a constantly growing decision support resource which allows imaging specialists to efficiently look up reference cases when deciding on a diagnosis, helping to reduce diagnostic errors.”

By providing imaging specialists with instant access to related cases, the Vivalog system saves time by eliminating unnecessary steps. A fully integrated reference-case management system provides staff with faster access to their peers' knowledge and an efficient way to capture and share their own evolving knowledge.

Vivalog also facilitates collaboration and communication among radiologists during the diagnostic decision process. The solution set includes integrated access to MyPACS net, a web-based community for radiology decision support and exchange of case knowledge. MyPACS net houses the largest collection of online teaching files, serving as a global, comprehensive decision-support resource. Since its inception eight years ago, users have contributed 18,000 reference cases depicting thousands of diseases. Cases are displayed using patent-pending web technology that lets the users manipulate images directly in their browser without need for additional software. Each month, the site receives approximately one million page views from 70,000 imaging professionals worldwide. Vivalog's most recent innovation uses biomedical case management and collaborative knowledge-sharing technologies to support image-based research and clinical trials.

"Radiologists are overworked, and like other clinicians, want to do all they can to prevent diagnostic errors,” said Rex Jakobovits, Ph.D., Vivalog founder and president. "Our solution enables imaging specialists to leverage the wealth of information inherent in their image archives and provides a more efficient mechanism for global collaboration and communication of findings.”

With the addition of these systems, McKesson's information technology-based enterprise imaging system enables healthcare facilities to provide better, safer care. McKesson's enterprise imaging solutions offer excellent data sharing, connecting the entire care team, and speeding the diagnostic process--from ordering a procedure to distributing reports and diagnoses.


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McKesson
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MyPACS.net