With its acquisition this past week of Atlanta-based Accelarad, Nuance Communications has launched its PowerShare Network, a cloud-based platform to enable the sharing of medical images and reports.

[See also: Imaging to play bigger role in health IT]

Accelarad, founded in 1999, develops technology to enable providers and patients to securely view, manage and exchange diagnostic images and documents online. With its acquisition – terms of which were not disclosed – Nuance, best known for its speech recognition and clinical documentation software, is combining its Radiology PowerScribe tool, which digitally transcribes imaging reports, with Accelarad's "social networking"-style exchange.

Anyone can join the image sharing network, irrespective of what IT systems they use. Healthcare organizations that use PowerScribe – a cohort that produces more than half of all radiology reports in the U.S. – can immediately leverage their existing investment and begin sharing radiology reports along with images, such as X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, EKGs, wound care images, dermatology images or any other type of images.

[See also: Nuance buys Webmedx]

“Integrated image and report sharing helps us deliver quality care and drive down costs especially when patients transfer from one facility to another," said Deborah Gash, vice president and CIO, Saint. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, in a Nuance press release. "Whether at their desktop or on their mobile device, our physicians can see the study that was done along with the interpretive report, which provides the information they need to treat the patient and avoid duplicate testing.

"By integrating this with our EHR, PowerShare will enable physicians to manage inbound imaging through one point of access and login," she added. "Physicians in our 11 hospitals and 100-mile radius referral network see this cutting-edge technology as a way to deliver the highest level of patient care."

“The challenge of sharing images with interpretive reports is something we’ve heard about consistently from our customers and EHR partners, and we know Nuance PowerShare Network will overcome this major obstacle, helping physicians treat patients more efficiently and effectively,” said Peter Durlach, senior vice president of marketing and strategy, in a statement.