Verizon Communications is making a broader push into health IT by expanding its cloud-based Verizon Medical Data Exchange to support interoperability of digital images and test results, in addition to dictated and transcribed notes. Additionally, the exchange is now open to a wider range of providers, including rural hospitals and small physician practices, the telecommunications giant says.
"The expanded capabilities of our data exchange will help accelerate the shift from paper-based to electronic-based medical records, and in the process help speed patient diagnoses and drive productivity and cost efficiency throughout the U.S. healthcare system," Peter Tippett, vice president of technology and innovation at Verizon Business, says in a press release.
As part of this expansion, Verizon announced the availability of new health IT consulting services to help members of the exchange move toward "meaningful use" of EMRs. "We offer different types of toolkits to get people on the exchange," Ardi Kazarian, senior product manager for the Verizon Medical Data Exchange, tells eWeek. "We have a .NET, a Java and a Ruby [toolkit]. We have professional services that can help with the toolkit and walk you through different things."
Additionally, Verizon has changed the name of its support network for the exchange from the Medical Transcription Service Consortium to the Medical Data Exchange Consortium.
For further details:
- take a look at this eWeek story
- see this Verizon press release