Diagnostic Imaging Program

The Diagnostic Imaging (DI) Program supports DI initiatives and systems such as Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and regional DI repositories (DI-r). These are secure computer systems that contain patient radiology reports and images such as hospital-based CT scans, ultrasounds, MRIs, mammograms and x-rays. The implementation of these systems has eliminated the need for film and paper diagnostic images.

DI/PACS gives health care providers important information to make better decisions about a patient's treatment. Authorized health care providers can share images and reports securely with other providers within their facilities and within their respective DI-rs. The diagnostic images and corresponding reports are stored in a regional repository from which they can be retrieved in digital format. This capability is reducing the need for patients to travel to see a specialist.

eHealth Ontario's DI program is part of the Agency's overall strategy to improve patient care, safety and access by giving providers access to vital clinical activity information systems. eHealth Ontario coordinates six approved regional DI/PACS projects covering 148 hospitals and provides funding support and the ONE Network that gives providers access to the system.

Benefits

The availability of DI/PACS is an ehealth success story and demonstrates the value of technology in improving patient care and clinician efficiency.

Patient benefits:

• Eliminates unnecessary patient travel every year.
• Reduces wait times and lengths of stay thanks to quicker exam reports and clinical decisions by physicians and specialists.
• Reduces duplicate and unnecessary exams.
• Improves access to radiologists by 30 to 40 per cent for patients in remote areas.
• Eliminates the need to physically transfer images or CDs to the specialist.
• Eliminates unnecessary exposure to radiation.

Physician benefits:

• Faster and easier access to images and reports.
• Remote access to images for off-hours coverage.
• Enhances remote reporting capabilities.
• Real-time clinical collaboration, increasing access to a broader range of specialists.

Progress to date

The implementation of DI/PACS initiatives across the province is a major ehealth collaboration effort. Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), hospitals, vendors, not-for-profit companies and eHealth Ontario's project team have been working together toward the common goal of accelerating the implementation of health information systems.

To date, the DI/PACS collaboration has resulted in all hospitals in Ontario accessing digital images instead of film and the following achievements:

• 100 per cent of all Emergency Neurosurgery Image Transfer System (ENITS) sites have been deployed and the ENITS service has been used in the emergency head trauma neurosurgical diagnosis of 2,887 critical encounters to date, and of those, 2,255 were not transferred saving the Ontario health system an estimated $50 million.
• The Southwest Ontario Digital Imaging Network (SWODIN) Project has 40 hospital sites connected to its repository.
• The Hospital Diagnostic Imaging Repository Services (HDIRS) now has 23 hospitals connected to the repository.
• The Northern & Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network (NEODIN) DI project (Champlain, North East and North West LHINs) repository has 13 out of 16 PACS hubs connected to the NEODIN repository.
• Implementation activities have begun for the GTA West DI-r covering 22 hospitals in the GTA and North Simcoe Muskoka LHINs.
• The current state analysis for the DI images generated in the Independent Health Facilities (IHFs) is complete. Planning for the implementation of the technical applications to integrate the PACS enabled clinics is underway.

Next steps

eHealth Ontario is working on developing the DI Common Service Project (provincial image exchange), ongoing security enhancements and future integration activities with independent health facilities (IHFs). In addition, the hospitals part of SWODIN (Southwestern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network) and NEODIN (Northern and Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network) will continue to integrate to their respective DI repositories. The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) West DI-r Project will begin integration of its hospitals over the next year. By the end of 2011-12, approximately 90% of all diagnostic reports and images will be available for viewing and sharing within regional repositories.