Mayo Clinic and Phoenix, Ariz.-based DICOM Grid are partnering to develop a mobile medical image viewer, meant to improve image sharing between Mayo, its physicians and referring physicians.

Designed specially for both iPad and browser-based devices, DICOM Grid’s technology allows doctors to exchange and view images regardless of geographic or institutional boundaries, officials say. The mobile application allows doctors and providers to send medical images to a facility in advance of a physician visit so that hospitals can more efficiently evaluate and treat patients.

Mayo Clinic will work alongside DICOM Grid to provide expertise from the clinical perspective.

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“Mobile image viewing is paramount to our ability to deliver efficient, cost-effective patient care,” said Jeremy Friese, MD, associate chair of radiology at Mayo Clinic. “For the Mayo system specifically, allowing both referring and Mayo physicians easy access to medical images at the point of care will prove to be very beneficial.”

DICOM Grid has developed a workflow engine that enables the routing and sharing of medical images and related data over both local and wide-area networks. This helps enable large multi-hospital institutions such as Mayo Clinic to access and share medical images with physicians across a variety of mobile platforms.

"We are creating a system that enables doctors to see medical imaging studies on a mobile device as easily as a consumer can access his or her online banking information,” said Morris Panner, CEO of DICOM Grid.

The program will begin in the fourth quarter of 2012 and will be used internally at Mayo Clinic, officials say. Upon completion of the pilot, DICOM Grid will evaluate the potential of making the technology available to other medical institutions across the country.