Today MedXT launches its cloud platform for medical imaging, which brings the workflows of radiologists and technicians in line with the rest of us by bridging imaging equipment already installed at hospital and clinics with our electronic health records.
While health care reform has done a lot to push electronic health records forward, many practices in the medical industry continue to rely on technologies and practices that predate the Internet. Images from a CT or MRI scan are saved to a DVD and physically transported from one facility to another, or scanners may only connect to computers on-premises via networking protocols unfamiliar to most in the Valley.
There are two key features to MedXT’s platform. The first is the software running on a server located at a hospital or clinic that acts as the recipient on the local network for data coming from imaging devices, like CT scanners, in the old-school DICOM format. MedXT CTO Reshma Khilnani told TechCrunch that the software can be installed in minutes and that the imaging equipment just does its thing pointed at a new address, no upgrade necessary.
The more important feature is obviously the cloud. While electronic health records have gotten a huge boost from portions of healthcare reform, images to this point have remained separate, delivered via the methods mentioned earlier. MedXT does the next best thing: it basically acts as a Dropbox for medical images.
Scans, along with any notes a technician might have, are sent from an imaging device to a local server to MedXT’s HIPAA-compliant AWS instances over an encrypted connection. The technician who uploaded that image can send a link (and the necessary permissions) to a radiologist at any facility with a web connection and a browser on a device that’s appropriately specced for diagnostic work.
Despite handling files potentially measuring in the hundreds of megabytes, the (FDA cleared) web app that brings MedXT’s platform together loads instantly and responds to input without lag, as you can see in this demo of an anonymous CT scan or in the following GIF from MedXT’s site:
MedXT’s platform makes diagnostic processes more efficient without requiring massive upgrades to infrastructure. It also gives physicians access to assistance from experts in radiology, ophthalmology, pathology, and cardiology all over the country, who can access an image immediately via a link rather than wait for some DVD to arrive or fly over for consultation.
According to Khilnani, the Y Combinator Winter 2013 graduate’s platform is already in use at hundreds of facilities, including clinics, emergency care centers, and hospitals. The free trial includes 50 free studies and continuing to use it costs $2 per study.