For more information, read the press release here:

World-class medical imaging workflow solutions to facilitate care coordination for better care, better business  ATLANTA and SARASOTA, FL, Feb. 8, 2012 – Today McKesson announced that it has acquiredpeerVue Inc., an innovative provider of solutions that simplify diagnostic medical imaging workflow, expedite communications for improved quality and efficiency, and support customer efforts to improve patient safety. The acquisition extends McKesson’s portfolio of enterprise imaging and information management systems with highly flexible workflow capabilities that address site-specific needs such as critical results management, peer review and emergency department communication for multiple disciplines. “peerVue brings world-class capabilities that facilitate care coordination, which is essential for better care and better business as part of our Better Health 2020 strategy,” said Kevan Torgerson, president, Enterprise Medical Imaging group, McKesson. “By addressing critical imaging workflow needs, particularly for radiologists, our combined capabilities empower care teams to more effectively engage with one another and to make better informed decisions throughout the diagnostic workflow.” Supporting those decisions is peerVue’s QICS, or Qualitative Intelligence and Communication System. A web-based technology platform, QICS provides the functionality to engage, analyze data, alert users and facilitate workflow at every point throughout the exam life cycle. “Improving workflow is not only the key to higher-quality, safer patient care,” noted Torgerson. “It’s also the key to improving efficiency and productivity for a better financial result.” Based in Sarasota, Fla., peerVue has a solid track record of delivering solutions to some of the country’s leading healthcare organizations with thousands of users depending on its technology to facilitate timely, high-quality care. “We look forward to becoming part of McKesson, which is widely known for its reach and leadership in imaging and information management,” said Kyle Lawton, peerVue’s chief executive officer. “We can bring together new care coordination capabilities to close the gaps in workflow for clinicians and enable better health in this generation and beyond.” Together, McKesson and peerVue will connect the entire care team and speed the diagnostic process across the continuum of care — helping healthcare organizations achieve better care, better business and better connectivity. About McKesson McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 15th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. We partner with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com. About peerVue Since its inception in 2002, peerVue has been redefining the healthcare IT market with intelligent workflow and communication solutions that enable healthcare organizations to improve patient care, while also reducing risk and simplifying processes. With a passion for technology and innovation, peerVue was established to solve critical workflow and communication gaps in healthcare that jeopardize patient safety and render imaging organizations inefficient. peerVue delivers solutions worldwide with dozens of integrations to leading healthcare imaging and IT across multiple specialties, including radiology, mammography, cardiology and pathology. PR Contact   McKesson Specialty Health Yancey Casey 404.338.2468 yancey.casey@mckesson.com

Failing to communicate successfully downstream opens the door to slow adoption and frustrated end users.  The more they know, the more they feel a part of the process and are more likely to embrace change.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a new policy, new IT system, or update to existing processes – keeping your audience informed is one of the easiest ways to alleviate fear of the unknown and get ahead of the naysayers’ negativity.

In a healthcare environment, employees are expected to adapt to and embrace IT system changes constantly. According to Stephen Steward, CIO at Henry County Health Center in Mt. Pleasant ,IA, “There is no substitute for communication, and there is no such thing as too much communication. Even when you do not have all the answers to every possible question, managing change proactively means communicating about the pending change, soliciting input, processing the input and crafting solutions to minimize the impact.”  Maintaining open communication and answering questions that arise will be necessary to adopt a new system quickly and efficiently into your department. For full text of the article, Click Here.

peerVue offers a variety of tools as a part of QICS that enable easier interdepartmental  communication so we recognize the importance of successful communication.   With the purchase of our system, each customer is assigned an implementation manager that is available anytime to ensure successful adoption and a smooth go-live!

o Beginning 2013, the written physics examination is being replaced by incorporating physics into a 2-day computerized core (qualifying) examination, which will be held in October.

o Physics will no longer be tested separately.  It will now be integrated into all 18 categories (graded separately and must be passed).

o Many physics questions will be image-based, with an emphasis on working backward from images to medical physics principles as recommended by the AAPM in 2006.

With these changes, which are geared to evaluate knowledge that has been accumulated over the entire course of residency, it is suggested that residency programs assimilate more diagnostic images and clinical scenarios into the curriculum.  (For full text of the article click here.)

We understand that training resident radiologists in this period of extraordinary change can be a daunting task. And we know you often don’t have systems in place to do it the way you’d like to so in response to this, peerVue has created a software infrastructure that integrates seamlessly into traditional healthcare IT applications – including your RIS, PACS and EMR –to facilitate the everyday workflow of residents.

For Resident Program Directors, QICS is flexible and customizable to create specific workflows for resident training, including:

o Resident Preliminary and Over-Read Workflow
o Resident Accuracy and Report Quality Scoring
o Exam Protocol Mapping, Teaching Files and Data Mining
o Resident Work Reporting by Rotation
o Discrepancy Management
o Consultation Messaging

QICS is the only complete, PACS integrated workflow solution that will address all needs of Resident Coordinators and Directors and will have the capacity to adapt effortlessly with the ever-evolving industry requirements.

In an article written by a board of radiologists in the Journal of the American College of Radiology it is agreed that “Increased attention will need to be paid to patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness, individual and group norms, performance measures and documentation, teamwork and sharing of data.”  As budgets are becoming more restricted and requirements are becoming more specific, it is a critical time for practices to adopt systems that will not only save their department money, but also be effective in tracking a variety of workflows.

Inability to adjust to the changes may even lead to the closing of many locations. The authors continue their argument by stating, “Some reasons for a group’s losing a practice include poor night and weekend coverage, a lack of subspecialty coverage, not quickly communicating reports, not having a peer-review mechanism that is effective, poor-quality reports [...] reducing radiation to patients, allowing inappropriate examinations to be done, and not being visible in the department and the institution as a whole.” Even though this ever-growing and extensive list seems overwhelming, there is hope to be seen.

QICS is here to help meet and address all these challenges head on and with confidence.  Peer Review, Teaching Files, and Radiation Dose Management are three of the numerous spaces included in QICS that will be critical to maintaining a successful practice this year. Not only does QICS address many current workflow issues in departments, but also the system is developed to address new requirements and departmental transitions.  QICS is a customized system at each location, so each customer is given the flexibility to manage these workflows in the manner that makes the most sense for each department.  QICS is the answer to seemingly overwhelming new challenges and each department’s powerful, automated, and necessary system.

For full text of the article, Click here.

The implementation will include workflow communication solutions such as Radiology Peer Review, Technologist Quality Improvement, Emergency Department Communication and Discrepancy Tracking and Critical Results Management.

The new feature—the first ever free radiology VR application—is based on a custom-developed radiology language model for the Microsoft speech engine API. It makes QICS a truly unique and robust platform- one system designed to bridge workflow and communication gaps inherent in the exam life cycle. QICS has the capacity to transform existing data into qualitative intelligence used to drive an unlimited range of workflows as well as fully automate radiology workflow, communication, and report creation.

The QICS VR engine, based on the free and widely available Microsoft Speech API engine, will be easy to use, maintain, and upgrade.  Additionally, peerVue has enabled the VR engine to be adaptable into radiology departments by including a proprietary radiology language model and the standard ACR structured reports. Advanced profile management with instantaneous web availability is included to ensure that users have access to highly accurate speech recognition from any location.  QICS VR also supports Philips SpeechMike III, inbound and outbound HL7 integrations, and easily customized templates.

Now, with QICS, even VR will be made seamlessly and universally available for functions from wet reads to critical results and inter- and cross- department communications.  The entire array of radiology department written communications will now become VR-enabled with no need to purchase, integrate, administer support, or maintain separate applications.

peerVue debuted QICS at RSNA 2010 and ushered in a new category of healthcare workflow management and communications systems. Already, the peerVue platform been embraced by more than 100 institutions worldwide, including luminary organizations like Parkland Memorial Hospital, Regional Medical Imaging, South Jersey Radiology Associates and Multicare. It is also distributed globally by industry leading RIS and PACS providers.

• Resident Preliminary
• Over-Read Workflow
• Resident Accuracy
• Report Quality Scoring
• Exam Protocol Mapping
• Teaching Files
• Data Mining and Quiz Management
• Resident Work Reporting by Rotation
• Discrepancy Management
• Consultation Messaging

Introduced at the 2010 RSNA in Chicago, QICS (Qualitative Intelligence and Communication System) is a revolutionary new category of healthcare IT that fills workflow gaps, provides a closed loop rules engine and creates an unlimited number of solution “spaces” that can help you meet all your present and future process and regulatory challenges. More specifically for you, QICS is flexible and customizable to create specific workflows for resident training

With unlimited users and limitless workflow capability, QICS is an application your attending will value for Critical Test Results Management, ACR Ongoing and Focused

Peer Review and much more. In short, QICS is an application not only for residents but your entire imaging department. We look forward to bringing you this breakthrough technology.

Hundreds of organizations globally depend on QICS to eliminate workarounds and “specialty systems” in favor of a single QICS platform. And now, peerVue extends the power and flexibility of QICS to include diagnostic report creation using VR as an embedded capability.

As an industry expert you recognize that Voice recognition systems for radiology departments provide shorter report turnaround times and increased cost savings. Unfortunately VR systems have long been a powerful capability without a proper home, like a square peg in a round hole, report creation has remained most commonly a standalone system, until now!

With the introduction VR within the QICS platform, radiologists will enjoy the ability to rapidly create and finalize diagnostic reports using VR while simultaneously addressing related workflow and communications challenges like Emergency Dept. Prelims / Discrepancies, Critical Results Communication, Incidental findings, Follow-up Tracking, Peer review and more.

What’s even more exciting is that peerVue’s QICS VR capability, built upon the proven Microsoft Speech Engine API (SAPI), will be offered for free within the QICS platform. The peerVue team is confident that implementing QICS, along with free VR for report creation will provide exactly what every radiology department needs to manage all key workflows and communications while ensuring accurate reporting.

Contact us today to schedule a demonstration at RSNA or even before remotely.

Last year, peerVue debuted a new category of healthcare workflow management and communications systems with the first QICS (Qualitative Intelligence and Communication System), which bridges the gaps inherent in multiple healthcare information systems in use today.

Already, the peerVue QICS has been embraced by more than 100 institutions worldwide, including luminary organizations like Parkland Memorial Hospital, Regional Medical Imaging, South Jersey Radiology Associates and Multicare. It is also distributed globally by industry leading RIS and PACS Providers. Today, peerVue QICS is being used in a continually growing range of installations to manage critical test results communications, emergency department discrepancies, peer review, technologist review and patient follow-up management. Other customizable applications include radiation dose tracking, peer consultation and billing discrepancy and management. Sites also are expanding significantly beyond traditional radiology applications, including mammography, cardiology, pathology laboratory and more.

Additionally, as a strategic partner of innovative not-for-profit Imaging the World (ITW), peerVue is now demonstrating the potential of QICS to manage diverse data distribution and communications among a virtual network of caregivers around the globe.

“QICS draws on the healthcare experience of peerVue leadership and was created to fulfill an unmet need in healthcare IT,” says peerVue CEO Kyle Lawton. “As the challenges of healthcare continue to evolve, we believe that the best way to respond is by working with a group of experienced clinicians and other healthcare leaders with their fingers on the pulse of the marketplace.”

The new peerVue board will meet for a two-day summit in early 2012 to evaluate the company’s blueprint for product development and support as well as marketing strategies for the coming year. The group will continue to collaborate and consult with peerVue on an ongoing basis throughout 2012 as these plans are implemented.

“We have selected progressive individuals who have consistently demonstrated leadership and innovation within their organizations and for the industry in general, to provide us with special guidance. They offer the knowledge and experience we need to support the creation of innovative solutions across the business of imaging,” says Lawton.

peerVue Advisory Board members include (in alphabetical order):

Julie Champine, M.D., FARC, Chief of Radiology for Parkland Hospital in Dallas and Professor of Radiology at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. She studied Pre-Medicine at Texas A&M University and earned her M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Champine served her residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Parkland. Her clinical interests include Abdominal Radiology, Computed Tomography, Gastrointestinal Radiology, Radiology Contrast Agents and Urology.
Kristen DeStigter, M.D., co-founder of Imaging the World, an organization dedicated to saving lives by providing diagnostic imaging in rural communities around the globe. Dr. DeStigter received her M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed her Diagnostic Radiology residency training and Body Imaging fellowship at University Hospitals of Cleveland. After five years of private practice in Michigan, she joined the faculty of the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care, where she is Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program Director.

Randy D. Hicks, M.D., M.B.A., co-owner and CEO of Regional Medical Imaging in mid Michigan. An expert on women’s imaging, Dr. Hicks graduated from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine and completed his residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Michigan State University Affiliated. His leadership role in the medical community includes service as Chairman of the Board of Directors for PPI Communications, a company that specializes in communication solutions for physicians, and as a board member or development/advisory board member for numerous other organizations.

Willliam F. Muhr, Jr., M.D., owner, President and CEO of South Jersey Radiology Associates (SJRA) in the greater Philadelphia area. SJRA offers a full spectrum of state-of-the-art imaging technologies. Dr. Muhr, an expert in Diagnostic Radiology/MRI Body, received his undergraduate degree from Lehigh University and his M.D. from Hahnemann University, completing both his internship and residency at Hahnemann University Hospital.

James J. Sapienza, FACHE, is Administrator of Imaging Services at MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Washington, and an instructor at Bellevue College. He previously served as Administrative Director-Operations (Imaging and Neurosciences Institute) and (Imaging Services) for Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. A former CEO of Seattle Surgery Center, Sapienza received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he was a Senior Fellow in the School of Arts and Sciences. He also earned a Master of Arts from Indiana University and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.

peerVue Advisory Board members, Lawton noted, will use their collective experience in imaging, as well as their industry participation, to create a forum for discussion of trends and issues, helping the company to continue to create solutions for ongoing healthcare IT changes and challenges.

About peerVue, Inc.
Since its inception in 2002, peerVue has been redefining the healthcare IT market with intelligent workflow and communication solutions that enable healthcare organizations to improve patient care and safety, while reducing risk and simplifying process. With a passion for technology and innovation, peerVue was established to solve critical workflow and communication gaps in healthcare that jeopardize patient safety and render imaging organizations inefficient. Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, peerVue delivers solutions worldwide with dozens of integrations to leading healthcare imaging and IT across multiple specialties, including radiology, mammography, cardiology and pathology. Contact peerVue at 877.572.9505 or visit www.peerVue.com