Image Movement of Montana, a grassroots organization composed of 30 healthcare facilities throughout the state, will soon be sharing radiological data through cloud computing-based technology.

Three IMOM members are currently using eMix (Electronic Medical Information Exchange) – the Great Falls Clinic in Great Falls, Kalispell Regional Medical Center in Kalispell and St. Luke Community Healthcare in Ronan. Officials said these facilities will be the first medical institutions in the nation to securely share patient data using eMix.

eMix was developed by DR Systems, a San Diego, Calif.-based provider of healthcare information systems. Company officials plan to launch a patient portal for business-to-consumer data exchanges later in 2010, as well as a long-term storage feature.

IMOM was created following a survey of Montana hospitals by MHA, an association of Montana healthcare providers, which revealed the difficulty of sharing images between different facilities.

The healthcare facilities began testing the technology in late November, with plans to go live in early 2010, but officials said the pilot was so successful that they went live only a few weeks after it was launched.

"We did an exhaustive test run and had no failed sends, so all three facilities started using eMix for all live patient data exchanges," said Bill O'Leary, regional outreach/PACS administrator at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and also an IMOM co-founder. "That was back in mid-December. Since going live, the system has worked perfectly, as well. I can't imagine a better or quicker way of transferring full resolution images and reports – especially when you're talking about institutions with disparate PACS and other information technology."

Using eMix, patients can request and manage access to their images and reports for a small fee, which IMOM officials said will enable the facilities to avoid operating costs and generate revenue when files are requested by patients.

"The test proved that with eMix, we can provide a better continuum of care for rural patients that receive part of their care at large hospitals in another area," said Gayle Knudson, radiology manager at Great Falls Clinic and an IMOM co-founder. "In emergency situations, we can push radiology data to where it's needed in a matter of minutes and without involving a highly skilled IT person, as we would with a VPN. Anyone who can do e-mail can do eMix."