Today, Intelerad Medical Systems, a global provider of enterprise imaging solutions, announced its acquisition of Life Image, one of the largest image exchange networks of curated clinical and imaging data, creating the largest medical image exchange network in the world and laying the groundwork for the elimination of costly CDs as the primary means of image transfer.
“As a company, Intelerad has been unwavering in backing the challenge put forth by the American College of Radiology (ACR), RSNA, and SIIM to #ditchthedisk. Today’s transaction reflects one of the most important steps we could imagine in reaching that vision,” said Mike Lipps, Intelerad CEO. “Bringing together two of the industry’s leading image exchange providers further solidifies Intelerad’s commitment to helping clinicians and patients lead the revolution in imaging from a world of siloed PACS to a future of interoperable image exchange.”
Medical record interoperability has been a key component of the 21st Century Cures Act and its focus on eliminating all forms of information blocking. Radiology leaders and industry stakeholders have been champions of establishing a framework for seamless electronic image transfer to improve patient care and eliminate the burden on caregivers. By combining two of the largest image-sharing networks and ensuring open access between networks, Intelerad takes a critical step in advancing access to digital health information.
“As an advocate for radiology’s critical role in health equity, I am so encouraged by the announcement of this expanded network and its commitment to interoperability,” said Dr. Geraldine McGinty, past President of the ACR. “Patients and physicians alike need an easy way to share images and this is an important first step toward enabling vendors to work together as they should.”
Leading healthcare systems have been pushing for seamless interoperability. “At our recent Enterprise Imaging Summit, interoperability of imaging data was a top concern expressed by many healthcare systems,” said Adam Gale, CEO of KLAS Research, the leading healthcare research firm. “As healthcare continues to evolve, the dedication to interoperability becomes critical to advancing the industry. While the future is unknown, we are hopeful this move to enhance the sharing of images will benefit all patients.”
With this transaction, Intelerad and Life Image serve many of the largest medical institutions in the world, including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and New York Presbyterian Hospital. The combined network manages over 80 billion images globally, enabling 24/7 digital image sharing from any device wherever the provider or patient may be.
“Together we have both worked to advance patient care and are excited to have the opportunity to bring these two leading networks together to advance interoperability,” said Morris Panner, President of Intelerad and former CEO of Ambra Health, which was acquired by Intelerad in Oct 2021. “As independent companies, we competed, but also pioneered some of the most important cross-vendor exchanges in the industry. By combining, we can advance our vision and technology more rapidly and achieve our joint vision of a true nationwide, electronic image exchange network. We are just getting started.”
For more information regarding the acquisition of Life Image, or Intelerad’s commitment to interoperability, please visit intelerad.com and follow the company on social media at @Intelerad. AGC Partners advised on this transaction.
About Life Image
Life Image is the world’s largest medical evidence network providing access to points of care and curated clinical and imaging data. It is the only company in the market today with Real World Imaging™ that provides large-scale, heterogeneous, de-identified imaging sets for research that are linkable to other longitudinal data. Founded in 2008, Life Image has created a digital platform using industry-leading interoperability standards to connect 13,000 facilities with more than 160,000 U.S. providers and 58,000 global clinics. Its network of hospitals, physicians, patients, life sciences, medical devices, and telehealth is interconnected with a technical ecosystem of EHRs, PACS, AI solutions, cloud environments, and analytics platforms.
About Intelerad
Intelerad is one of the leading providers of medical imaging software and services for the healthcare industry. Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, and Montreal, Intelerad has over 900 employees located in offices across six countries. Nearly 2,500 healthcare organizations around the world rely on Intelerad products to manage patient data, helping them reduce time and workload while improving patient outcomes. Intelerad’s award-winning enterprise imaging solutions have been recognized globally by KLAS, with Intelerad’s Ambra Health ranked #1 for Image Exchange in 2022 Best in KLAS: Software and Professional Services report. To learn more, visit intelerad.com.
