NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--lifeIMAGE, the nation’s largest medical image exchange platform that enables imaging data interoperability across healthcare networks, providers and patients, today announced that it has acquired Mammosphere, the leading national medical exchange network specializing in mammography and women’s imaging. Through this acquisition, the Mammosphere network, which provides hospitals, imaging centers and patients with electronic access to prior mammograms, will be made available to healthcare providers currently utilizing the lifeIMAGE platform with the goal of improving access to comparison studies and enhancing the effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs.
With an estimated sixty million women in the United States undergoing regular breast cancer screenings, Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) certified imaging centers perform nearly forty million mammography procedures each year. It is not uncommon for women to move between medical facilities, or to new cities or states, during their recommended mammographic age. The Mammosphere network saves providers time, energy and resources by allowing them to securely access an individual patient's prior exams, regardless of timing or location of the performed study.
“The availability of prior mammograms is critical to the early and accurate diagnosis of breast cancer,” said Kathryn Pearson Peyton, MD, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Mammosphere, who will now lead the women’s health and imaging advisory committee at lifeIMAGE. “By leveraging the market-leading network and technology built by lifeIMAGE, the reach of the Mammosphere image exchange network will dramatically expand so more women and healthcare providers can benefit from breast cancer screening programs with lower absolute rates of false-positive outcomes and repeat diagnostics.”
Additionally, using the vendor-neutral Mammosphere network, providers can allow patients to take a more active role in their treatment and ensure continuity of care by making tests performed at their facilities available to patients for their personal use via secure, online accounts. With this access, patients can easily share imaging studies with new providers and can store and access additional ultrasounds, MRIs and PET/CTs at any time. This is particularly useful to patients who are at risk for breast cancer, are one of the millions of women in the United States diagnosed with breast cancer, or have plans to change providers.
Breast imaging centers utilizing the Mammosphere network have demonstrated significant improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of their breast cancer screening programs. After the introduction of Mammosphere at one facility in 2015, there was a 48 percent reduction in mammograms read without prior comparison, and a 73 percent decrease in patient callbacks due to false-positive findings. These impressive improvements in the quality of care prevented the cost of unnecessary imaging and testing, kept new screening exams on schedule for the center, and, most importantly, saved patients weeks of emotional turbulence and unwarranted concern about their outcome.
“lifeIMAGE is focused on improving the quality of care experienced by patients and bringing services to the market that make a difference in people’s lives,” said Matthew A. Michela, Chief Executive Officer and President of lifeIMAGE. “Furthering the Mammosphere mission will help the women’s health and radiology experts within our network improve the efficiency and outcomes of mammography screening programs and improve patients’ safety and satisfaction while reducing unnecessary medical spending.”
For more information on the lifeIMAGE 4.0 platform visit www.lifeimage.com.
About lifeIMAGE
lifeIMAGE is an interoperable medical image
sharing network that helps healthcare providers access their patients’
imaging records, regardless of where exams are performed or stored. It
has been adopted by more than 120 multi-site health systems across the
country to improve care coordination for patient consultations,
referrals and transfers. This enables providers to improve the quality
and timeliness of care, expand referral business, and eliminate wasteful
spending.
