The VPH Institute member, Catalan Agency for Health Information, Assessment and Quality (CAHIAQ) belongs to the Catalan Ministry of Health and is the entity responsible for the promotion and the management of the digitalization of all the medical images. This project is coordinated through a specific unit and started in 2008.
Nowadays all the radiological exams of the Catalan public healthcare system are digitalized and all the copies of these images are transferred and stored into the Catalonian Central Repository of Medical Image. Thanks to this repository all the healthcare professionals can gain access to the radiological exams independently from the patients scanning sites and this is possible through the patients’ electronic health records. Moreover such repository promotes the healthcare delivery coordination among the different professionals (primary care, acute care and hospitals), cuts the number of redundant diagnostic exams, reduces the need to either print the radiological exams or store the images in CDs/DVDs; boosts the deployment of telemedicine and tele-care services.
Currently the repository comprises approx 4 Millions of plain X-rays, CT, MRI and ultrasound exams and it is growing at a rate of approx 250.000 exams per month.
The Catalan Ministry of Health fully supports VPH research, since it is perceived as one of the main pillars of European investigation that one day will make possible to change the paradigm in healthcare delivery and move from interventional approaches toward personalised and predictive medicine.
In line with Catalan Ministry of Health vision and strategy, CAHIAQ is actively collaborating with two VPH projects as provider of digital images: VPH Share (FP7-ICT-2009-6) and Visceral (FP7-ICT-2011-8).
CAHIAQ considers its repository of utility to make the VPH research progress and is willing to collaborate further in this area joining as a partner European-funded research projects.
Rossana Alessandrello
Innovation Unit
Catalan Agency for Health Information, Assessment and Quality (AIAQS)
realessandrello@aatrm.catsalut.cat
