NYGH offers online access to diagnostic images

TORONTO – North York General Hospital (NYGH) has partnered with PocketHealth to provide patients with online access to their medical imaging exams, in their original diagnostic formats.

In the past, sharing imaging records has been an arduous process for both patients and film library staff. Patients would have to pick up a CD from the hospital every time they wanted to review their new exams with a physician, and each CD request could take hours to days to process.

Since PocketHealth’s integration in February 2018, NYGH patients have been able to store their entire medical imaging history on the cloud platform, a convenient and secure cloud alternative that allows patients to view and share imaging records from any device, anywhere.

There is a $5.00 transfer fee at the time of enrolment, and it includes permanent access to all previous imaging records at the hospital, as well as new exams patients undergo over the following two weeks.

Once patients receive access, they can share their imaging in their original format (DICOM) electronically with any physician, or even burn their own CD or USB from home.

Since its launch earlier this year, thousands of NYGH patients have registered, accessed, and shared their records through PocketHealth.

Mike Sharma (pictured), director of clinical diagnostics at NYGH, says he couldn’t be happier with how the partnership is going: “As one of Canada’s leading academic hospitals, we have always sought out new opportunities to deliver patient-centric care, while streamlining our own internal workflow. PocketHealth not only eases the logistical pains of record release by greatly reducing CD-burning, but also returns the control of imaging records back to the patient, where it belongs.”

Rishi Nayyar, co-founder and CEO of PocketHealth, added: “We’re privileged to enable a forward-looking institution like North York General to change how they think about imaging release and move it in such a patient-centric direction. Shifting the medical imaging industry towards a model of patient-centricity requires providers to critically assess and adapt their existing processes, and we’re grateful to have partnered with a team eager to do just that at North York General.”

Both institutions look forward to continuing to collaborate on new solutions in the near future, and are encouraged by the rapid early adoption by the hospital’s patient population. North York General joins over 500 other hospitals, clinics and mobile imaging sites across North America that have deployed the PocketHealth platform for their patients.

About North York General Hospital
North York General Hospital (NYGH), affiliated with the University of Toronto, is one of Canada’s leading community academic hospitals. NYGH offers its culturally diverse community a wide range of acute care, ambulatory and long-term care services across multiple sites. Through partnerships, collaboration and academic endeavours, NYGH seeks to set new standards for patient- and family-centred care. Working together with their patients and their families, NYGH is making a world of difference.

About PocketHealth
PocketHealth is a patient-centric cloud platform that enables imaging providers across North America to share imaging records electronically with patients, instantly and securely. PocketHealth’s PACS-agnostic Gateway deploys with ease and has enabled over 500 hospitals, imaging clinics and mobile imaging sites across North America to modernize and secure their image release process. The company believes that by placing patients at the center of the record release process, data moves more ethically, easily and securely throughout the care journey. Learn more at www.mypockethealth.com.