American College of Radiology and Massachusetts General Hospital to Use Nuance PowerShare Network for Information Exchange with Radiology Community

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that the American College of Radiology (ACR) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will leverage the Nuance PowerShare Network, the industry’s largest cloud-based medical imaging exchange, to bring clinical guidelines to the radiologist’s workflow and automate the process of collecting and reporting quality measures to meet industry regulations and guidelines. These organizations are among the first to join Nuance’s new PowerShare Innovation Program, which opens up the entire Network platform to other innovators and third parties to leverage the power of PowerShare and Nuance PowerScribe® reporting through an easy-to-use cloud model to deliver clinical content and value-added services to a much wider audience. The PowerShare Innovation Program will be unveiled at the RSNA Annual Meeting to accelerate collaboration within the radiology community and promote advancements in overall patient care and financial integrity.

“By leveraging the more than 2,000 provider organizations that use PowerShare to share 3 billion medical images and the 1,600+ provider organizations that use PowerScribe to produce diagnostic reports, the PowerShare Network connects radiologists, other clinicians, patients, government agencies, specialty medical societies and other organizations with the information needed to support improved clinical decision making and enhanced patient outcomes across the continuum of care,” said Peter Durlach, senior vice president of marketing and strategy, Nuance Communications. “The ACR and MGH are two prime examples of how industry leaders are capitalizing on the unique opportunity to leverage our open platform and nationwide footprint to deliver content and services.”

“The ACR is making it easier for radiologists to participate in national registries and federal regulatory programs, which are so important for demonstrating value in healthcare,” said Mike Tilkin, chief information officer & executive vice president, American College of Radiology. “By providing a connectivity framework that leverages tools such as PowerShare, we automate the process of collecting and submitting Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) quality measures and other registry data on behalf of radiologists. Also, by integrating our nationally recognized clinical guidance with tools such as PowerScribe, we enhance the reporting process by providing critical information to the radiologist when it is most useful — in-context and during interpretation. These two programs are a huge step forward for the practice of Imaging 3.0.”

In partnership with the ACR and Nuance, MGH will deliver an initial set of radiology clinical decision support guidelines to the broader radiology community by integrating them into the PowerScribe workflow so that radiologists can access these evidence-based guidelines at the point of interpretation to improve clinical documentation consistency and quality. As these clinical guidelines are updated and expanded, Nuance will share these guidelines digitally to providers across the industry using the Nuance PowerShare Network.

“Our goal is to provide the highest quality patient care that is consistent with recognized national guidelines and standards,” says James A. Brink, MD, radiologist-in-chief, MGH. "Mass General has long been committed to developing, adopting and leveraging innovative systems and technology to achieve this goal.”

To integrate decision support with best practices in reporting, the ACR is also collaborating with the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and standards organizations to align the radiologist’s decision points with standards-based reporting frameworks.

New PowerShare Innovation Program
Nuance will kick off the PowerShare Innovation Program at the RSNA Annual Meeting 11/30 – 12/5 in booth #2529. Technology vendors, healthcare providers, medical societies, and other organizations interested in learning more about the Program and how to leverage the PowerShare Network to further imaging information exchange, should stop by the Nuance booth in Chicago or visit www.Nuancehealthcaredeveloper.com/PowerShare.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit: www.nuance.com. Connect with Nuance on social media through the healthcare blog, What’s next, as well as Twitter and Facebook.

About American College of Radiology
The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1924, is one of the largest and most influential medical associations in the United States. The ACR devotes its resources to making imaging and radiation therapy safe, effective and accessible to those who need it. Its 35,000 members include radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists, interventional radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians.

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