NetDirector Teams with DocPanel to Provide Rapid Integration and Data Consistency for Radiology Reads and Reports

From PRNewswire:

Tampa, FL – December 13, 2018 – NetDirector, a cloud-based data exchange, and integration platform, has expanded their healthcare data-trading ecosystem by partnering with DocPanel, a digital community of highly-skilled subspecialty radiologists who provide radiology interpretations for both healthcare providers and patients.

With a shared vision founded on providing exceptional patient care and leveraging technology to increase interoperability in healthcare organizations, DocPanel and NetDirector have moved forward with their partnership to increase the ease of deployment and level of integration available to both DocPanel, and the healthcare providers that they engage with.

DocPanel’s network of over 300 board-certified, highly distinguished radiologists across 41 states and academic institutions provide unparalleled specialization. NetDirector’s cloud-based integration-platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) model will make specialty care more rapidly accessible and easier to leverage for the providers who are directly servicing the patients by handling the complex integrations and variety of systems that are ubiquitous in the world of modern-day medical imaging data.

“DocPanel was built to make it possible for imaging providers to receive the best possible radiology interpretations available, no matter where they are,” states Cate Lloyd, COO of DocPanel. “By partnering with NetDirector, together we will make that world-class service easier to access and more cost-effective and interoperable for both the initial provider and the participating radiologist, ensuring sustainability and availability for all participants,” she continued.

DocPanel is initially utilizing NetDirector’s HealthData Exchange to receive digital orders from customers and return diagnostic results back to its ecosystem of Imaging Centers. NetDirector allows them to fast-track onboarding of new trading partners and significantly reduce IT resource overhead to maintain a multitude of data interfaces. They are also looking to potentially expand services by utilizing NetDirector’s new DICOM image converter to automate the inclusion of PDFs to DICOM directly into the radiologist’s reading protocols and eliminate on-premise licensed software.

Additionally, NetDirector’s new Health Data Monitor (HDM) makes the whole integration environment easier to monitor and maintain compliance than ever before. Network participants are notified of delays or connectivity concerns in real time through the HDM dashboard and can respond as needed or engage with their dedicated integration analyst who are domain experts in healthcare workflow and integration technologies.

“Partnering with DocPanel is very exciting – they are at the forefront of their industry, much like we are,” said Harry Beisswenger, CEO of NetDirector. “Being able to provide a strong and secure integration solution, while simultaneously reducing costs, ensures that the amazing services provided by DocPanel’s team of radiologists can be accessed in a simple and straight-forward way.”

About NetDirector:

NetDirector provides a secure cloud-based data and document exchange solution for the healthcare and mortgage banking industries to deliver seamless data integration between parties. NetDirector bridges gaps created by disparate systems & technologies by allowing companies at any location to share data & documents securely over a single internet connection with any other member of the ecosystem. Our approach allows trading partners to collaborate and exchange data in a seamless, bi-directional, real-time manner. With security and longevity as a focus, NetDirector is a certified HIPAA Compliant company, a 6-year member of the prominent Inc. 5000, and currently processes more than 10 million transactions per month.

About DocPanel

DocPanel is the world’s first subspecialty radiologist marketplace bringing together the largest network of fellowship-trained radiologists across every major subspecialty into one single online platform. DocPanel’s subspecialty radiologists offer final reads and educational consultations to imaging centers and radiology groups, and second opinions to clients and patients across the United States and the world. The company offers a new flexible and customizable model of subspecialty radiology to help overcome challenges related to errors, high costs, staff shortages and more.

Why Interoperability Still Matters

When HIMSS asked hospital leaders to rate their most pressing 2018 concerns, “Health Information Exchange, Interoperability and Data Integration” ranked a rather middling 13th out of 24 total IT priorities. On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 meant “not a priority” and 7 designated an “essential priority,” respondents gave interoperability a group score of 4.85.

Consider that outcome against the top 5 priorities among hospital respondents:

  1. Patient Safety 6.07
  2. Privacy, Security and Cybersecurity 5.90
  3. Process Improvement, Workflow, Change Management 5.70
  4. Data Analytics/Clinical and Business Intelligence 5.50
  5. Clinical Informatics and Clinician Engagement 5.50

Compared to 2017, “Leadership, Governance, Strategic Planning” and “Connected Health and Telehealth” jumped ahead of “Health Information Exchange, Interoperability and Data Integration” in this year’s priority ranking.

Nonetheless, the HIMSS survey findings shouldn’t be construed to mean that interoperability has fallen off the boardroom table as a point of emphasis. Instead, the onus for achieving interoperability may be shifting from internal IT departments to collaborative colleagues in the commercial health IT sector. In fact, vendors and consultants surveyed by HIMSS rated interoperability as their 2nd highest current priority, with a mean score of 5.60.

One key aspect of what’s in play here is that 75 percent of hospitals are dealing with 10+ disparate electronic health record (EHR) systems in use at affiliated practices, while only 2 percent of hospitals use a single vendor’s EHR.

Vendors will have to work toward agreement on interoperability standards, not only as it applies to their customers’ reimbursement under value-based payment models but also “because of consumer demand as things like Apple Health Records gain traction,” according to Blain Newton, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics. He added, “You’re going to see consumer health apps that have been playing at the fringes now be able to plug into the mothership and pull data from it, add to it.”

A Milestone for Progress

Despite pending challenges, the future looks promising for emerging interoperability initiatives. In mid-November, Carequality and CommonWell Health Alliance, two of the nation’s largest interoperability communities, announced that mutually enabled healthcare providers would be able to connect and bilaterally exchange data via leading EHR vendors.

Approximately 80 percent of U.S. hospitals and ambulatory offices use EHR systems that are part of either Carequality or Commonwell, noted Micky Tripathi, CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. “Imagine a mobile wireless world where Verizon and AT&T weren’t connected—both networks provide great services to their own customers, but you couldn’t talk to anyone on the other network,” he explained. “This milestone is [on] that level of significance for interoperability.”

Further, providers who have already invested in integration know that it directly impacts interoperability. Technology that streamlines payment processing alleviates non-value-added time spent on documentation and processes required for maximized reimbursement.

A recent case study shows how front-end benefit verification enabled American Health Imaging (AHI) to reduce labor costs by about $480,000 annually through integration and automation on NetDirector’s cloud-based data exchange service.

Click here to read the entire AHI case study.