Nuance PowerShare Network

Easily find other providers and begin sharing in minutes.

The Nuance PowerShare™ Network connects healthcare facilities, providers, and patients for quick, convenient, cost-effective, and secure sharing of medical images and diagnostic reports—anytime, anywhere.

Challenge

Current processes for exchanging medical imaging information rely upon the use of cumbersome CDs and other physical media, often delaying important care decisions. Silos of information inhibit providers from optimizing efficiency and quality of care, resulting in duplicate exams and unnecessary radiation exposure. Current methods to view and share information are inconsistent at best. Solutions for these and other challenges are needed to support the transition to a value-based care model.

Solution

The PowerShare Network is an ever-expanding cloud-based network that puts the power to share, view, and manage reports and images at the fingertips of providers and patients alike. PowerShare allows access to any patient image to expedite important care decisions and reduce redundant exams, enabling clinicians to seamlessly evaluate and deliver timely high-quality care to patients who transition between facilities or care settings.

The PowerShare Network requires no VPNs or costly onsite servers and, for Nuance PowerScribe® reporting users, it also eliminates the need for additional HL7 interfaces, further minimizing costs and reducing burdens on IT resources.

Key benefits

• Efficiently exchange information throughout the patient care cycle, with or without CDs.
• Improve patient care by expediting access to exam information.
• Reduce unnecessary patient radiation by avoiding redundant imaging.
• Increase referrals by making image access easier for outside clinicians.
• Improve physician satisfaction by providing multiple image viewing and sharing options for DICOM and non-DICOM images.
• Reduce or eliminate the need for CDs by sharing images across the network.
• Lightweight solution minimizes technical burdens.

The PowerShare Network is comprised of healthcare facilities, providers, and patients, allowing imaging exams to be shared directly with other clinicians and patients using simple web-based viewers or the mobile application. Quickly grow 'your' network using intuitive user interfaces and familiar social networking methods—easily find other providers and begin sharing in minutes. Plus, your data is secure and you decide with whom you want to share it. Convenient image sharing rules are available to further streamline your processes. PowerShare also handles automatic or manual reconciliation and transfer of images into PACS or other on-premise DICOM destinations such as VNAs.

The PowerShare Network provides quick, simple and secure sharing of reports and images.

EHR integration.

While radiologists typically view images in the PACS, referring physicians frequently work most effectively in the EHR or EMR. The PowerShare Network offers seamless integration for CD upload, viewing, sharing, and PACS nomination with market-leading EHR/EMR solutions, allowing the admitting team to upload CDs from outside facilities and incorporate the information into their PACS or VNA, with the added benefit of ensuring patient demographics are properly reconciled. And to make sure prior study results are not overlooked, PowerShare provides notification to the EHR that these studies are present—at the time of patient registration. PowerShare allows the referring community to navigate through the EHR as they normally do, with easy access and viewing of images and reports from other facilities. For patients, PowerShare facilitates access to images through patient portals, allowing patients to see the same images as their providers.

PowerShare provides multiple viewing options to satisfy a range of needs.

The eUnity® universal viewer:

As part of the PowerShare Network portfolio of universal viewers, Nuance offers the eUnity viewing platform. A zero-footprint universal viewing platform providing flawless, diagnostic image quality, with image retrieval in only seconds; easily meeting the demanding information needs of clinicians.

Simple and effective, quick to install, and easily learned, eUnity can support the image viewing needs of the largest organization, delivering flawless display of images at full quality.

The 3D Viewer:

The 3D Viewer provides an expert tool set as well as 3D reconstruction. This universal viewer is FDA-cleared for diagnostic interpretation of all study types and provides server-based rendering and streaming for instant access to even the largest data sets such as cardiac CT, echocardiograms, and angiograms.

3D Viewer Description: The image displays a medical scan with multiple views. The main view shows a cross-section of the chest with labels like 'Axial+MPR', 'MIP+MPR', 'MPR+VRT', 'MPR+3D', 'MIP', 'MPR+Scout', and 'Other Series'. Patient information such as 'Anonymous DENNIS K', '1952-Aug-17 M 52Y', and 'CT CH PE' is visible. Various viewing tools and options are displayed, including 'File', 'View', 'Protocol', 'Tools', 'Window', 'Help', 'View', 'Export', 'CPR', 'VRTd', and 'Slab Off'. The image quality is high, with detailed anatomical structures visible.

Mobile device support.

The mobile app is an iOS application that can be downloaded by anyone at no charge. The application provides a timeline of uploaded or shared studies and allows easy access to images and reports from any iPhone®, iPad® or iTouch® device. The mobile viewer includes window/level, zoom, pan, and scrolling and allows quick and easy sharing of images with any contact. It can handle multi-frame data sets such as echocardiograms and angiograms and supports playback at acquisition rates. The app is also capable of securely capturing images with the device's camera and uploading them to the cloud repository for sharing with others. With user-defined rules, images captured by a mobile device can be automatically routed to a VNA or PACS for added convenience.

The PowerShare Network mobile app works with any iPhone®, iPad® or iTouch® allowing providers to share images and data anywhere, at anytime.

Mobile App Description: The image shows a mobile phone screen displaying a list of medical images and reports, organized by patient name and date. It includes options like 'Search', 'My Images', and 'Shared Images'. Another part of the image shows a medical image viewer on a tablet, displaying a chest X-ray with various viewing controls.

Upload and view non-DICOM images.

Not only does the PowerShare Network allow users to upload DICOM studies, users also have the ability to upload non-DICOM images such as JPEG, TIFF, and PDF files. This ability allows static images taken on non-DICOM devices such as wound care photos or older vintage ophthalmic images to be shared just like any other image.

Expedite care decisions.

Rapid sharing of images along with reports means quicker and better care decisions, especially for high-risk situations such as stroke care and trauma referrals where timing is critical. PowerShare allows exams to be shared throughout the care cycle all the way through to the PACS at the reading site if desired, or quickly by way of PowerShare viewers. Sites that have not yet joined a stroke care network can share images just as easily to leverage the reading ability of a higher care center. For trauma referrals, the PowerShare Network makes images readily available to the trauma care hospital, eliminating the need to burn CDs at the originating hospital and avoiding delays from cumbersome and manpower-intensive CD management processes at the receiving hospital. For other types of patient care such as cardiology and surgery, PowerShare quickly and seamlessly moves even large studies between hospital departments as well as across facilities.

Minimize redundant exams and reduce unnecessary radiation exposure.

Redundant imaging is a major issue in today's healthcare environment, typically arising when one facility provides care for a patient that had previously been imaged at another facility. When one facility cannot access – or is unaware of the presence of-prior studies, a duplicate exam may be ordered. Duplicative imaging is estimated to cost our healthcare system billions of dollars each and every year. With the transition to value-based initiatives such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and other performance-based payment models, reducing waste and avoiding unnecessary tests will become essential.

Redundant exams also result in unnecessary radiation exposure to patients. By accessing images through the PowerShare Network, more complete information about the patient is available and easily accessible, reducing unnecessary radiation exposure from CT and other ionizing radiation studies.

Easily grow 'your' network and strengthen referral base.

Most hospitals today have PACS and EMRs that facilitate sharing of patient information, including images, within the facility. But, what about referring clinicians outside your facility? PowerShare provides quick and easy access to images and reports throughout your referring community for true collaborative care, strengthening and expanding your referral base. What's more, the PowerShare Outreach Team can help you achieve your networking goals. As part of the implementation process, the Outreach Team is available to help enroll outside clinicians onto your network and promote the service to partner facilities. We make it easy to grow your business.

3 billion+ Over 3 billion images exchanged by thousands of connected facilities

100% cloud-based infrastructure

Support for the unique needs of IDNs.

Helping IDN systems address the IT infrastructure needs for distributed image workflow, including:

• Corporate Enterprise Image Query: Partner with other facilities to view and take actions on studies within each facility's PowerShare repository without the need for image shares or requests.
• Employed Physician Image Query: Employed physician can query the PowerShare repository of their corresponding facility without the need for image shares or requests. Physicians will be able to take action on facility studies as if it were their own.

Expedite image routing and QC.

The web interface to the PowerShare Network, combined with the ability to create automated routing rules based on physician preferences or exam type, minimizes the effort required to make images available where and when they are wanted and puts the ability to perform QC audits at the fingertips of administrators and film room clerks—wherever they are.

Utilization dashboard & analytics.

Measure what you do and how you do it with the PowerShare Utilization Dashboard. These analytics present important insights on how the system is being used and how it helps drive business growth.

Chart Descriptions:

• Shares for Last 365 Days: A line graph showing the trend of image shares over the past year, with peaks and valleys indicating periods of high and low activity.
• Uploads for Last 365 Days: A similar line graph illustrating the number of image uploads over the past year.
• Shares Received Last 365 Days: Another line graph tracking the number of shares received over the past year.
• Top 10 Uploads by Institution for Last 365 Days: A pie chart or bar graph showing the top institutions contributing to image uploads, categorized by institution name and image type (CRCT, MG, MR, US, Other).

Minimize costs and reduce burden on IT resources.

The PowerShare Network is, at its core, a cloud-based multi-tenant system that allows for safe storage of images and reports in the cloud. The cloud deployment keeps on-premise requirements to a minimum, allowing an exam to be shared without any special dedicated hardware or software. Facilities with high volumes may wish to deploy the Accelarator, a lightweight Windows-based utility that allows for automation of image routing, receipt of HL7 messages for reports, and receipt of DICOM studies from PACS. Plus, the Accelarator does not require a VPN, making the deployment that much easier and more cost-effective.

Budget-friendly subscription model.

Access to the PowerShare Network is through a monthly subscription. This budget-friendly model allows sharing of images as well as radiology reports. Once on the Network, users will have access to additional services offered by Nuance in the future.

The PowerShare Network allows for safe storage of images and reports in the cloud.

Leverage existing HL7 interfaces and PowerScribe investment.

The PowerShare Network is available to PowerScribe and non-PowerScribe users alike. When used in conjunction with PowerScribe, existing HL7 interfaces can be utilized to share report data for a cost-effective solution that can be more rapidly implemented and with significantly less effort.

To learn more about how Nuance Healthcare can help you improve financial performance, raise the quality of care, and increase clinician satisfaction, please contact Nuance Healthcare at 877-805-5902 or visit www.nuance.com/products/powersharenetwork.

Nuance provides a more natural and insightful approach to clinical documentation, freeing clinicians to spend more time caring for their patients. Nuance healthcare solutions capture and communicate more than 300 million patient stories each year, helping more than 500,000 clinicians in 10,000 healthcare organizations globally. Nuance's award-winning clinical speech recognition, medical transcription, CDI, coding, quality, and diagnostic imaging solutions provide a more complete and accurate view of patient care, which drives meaningful clinical and financial outcomes.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc., is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications, and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, visit www.nuance.com/healthcare or call 1-877-805-5902. Connect with us through the healthcare blog, What's next, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.