Life Image, Dicom Systems Partner to Improve Teleradiology in Alaska

Life Image, a medical evidence network for clinical and imaging data, announced that the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), operated jointly by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) and Southcentral Foundation, selected the company as its image exchange and network access provider to enhance the Anchorage-based hospital’s capability to provide telehealth and teleradiology services throughout Alaska and beyond.

As an acute, specialty, primary and behavioral healthcare provider, ANMC provides comprehensive medical services to Alaska Native and American Indian people living in the state. More than 60% of ANMC’s patients live in rural communities and depend on telehealth and teleradiology for their diagnostic services.

This new deployment at ANMC is further validation of the strategic partnership between Life Image and Dicom Systems, a leader in enterprise imaging interoperability and workflows. Since 2014, the Dicom Systems Unifier platform has enabled ANMC’s radiology group to read remotely and send back diagnostic reports electronically. The two companies’ combined networks and integration capabilities will provide ANMC with accelerated interoperability and drive new levels of workflow efficiency. As the flagship hospital for the Alaska Tribal Health System, ANMC also works with more than a dozen healthcare facilities in remote areas of Alaska and medical centers in Washington state that require image exchange through the cloud using Life Image. In addition, ANMC now has access to Life Image’s network of 10,000 U.S. clinical facilities that connects to 150,000 U.S. providers with 58,000 global clinics.

“ANTHC’s mission is to meet the unique health needs of more than 175,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people living in our state,” said John Dolbinski, Director of Medical Imaging Services of ANTHC. “Our medical center is the state’s main referral site as an Adult and Pediatric Level II Trauma Center, and provider of primary and specialty care. Increasing our capabilities in telehealth, teleradiology, data exchange and connections beyond Alaska are critical to fulfilling our mission.”

“Life Image is a natural choice for ANTHC as we are tightly integrated with Dicom Systems as a strategic partner,” said Matthew A. Michela, President and CEO of Life Image, “Both our companies bring complementary capabilities to enhance telehealth and improve access to care. The Life Image Interoperability Suite brings imaging and data connectivity to remote outposts and access to a broad network in the United States and across the world.”

“Dicom Systems is proud to further enhance our enterprise imaging solutions for ANTHC,” said Florent Saint-Clair, Executive Vice President of Dicom Systems. “The partnership with Life Image allows us to deploy a powerful combination of intra- and extra-mural interoperability across ANTHC’s network. Critical medical data is now seamlessly compatible among disparate health systems, which has proven more important than ever in an urgent, connected healthcare environment.”