The increasing value of medical imaging has resulted in an exponential rise in its use for patient care. Unfortunately, there has been no effective concomitant rise of means to share and communicate these data, resulting in inadequate patient service, costly deficiencies and redundancies. The goal of this proposal is to establish in a regional Health Image Exchange system that services several large hospitals in the Vicinity of Birmingham, AL. The objectives are straightforward: bring the participating hospitals up to a network/information transaction capability to support the exchange process, employ the expertise of the University of Alabama Birmingham to develop an image exchange service compatible with the national Health Information networks 2007 prototype, deploy the developed technology incrementally to the participating hospitals and design a web accessible access point to allow patients and physicians to view information about appropriate medical images. Once operational, the system will be scalable to service remote geographical areas of the state. The architectural advantages are considerable. Its adherence to standards enables the hospital or physicians office to acquire any standard desirable technology to interface with it, making it generally affordable. The clinical benefits are much more significant. Immediate access to remote image data will result in better informed physicians, which will support better care. Enhanced efficiencies will include reduction of underserviced patient visits which occur when imaging data are not available. Access to images will eliminate the need to repeat studies, resulting in decreased costs. Immediate access to imaging data will significantly and positively impact trauma care. Once implemented, trauma specialists will be able to see images and suggest support measures before the patient is transported. Furthermore, patients that arrive at busy trauma centers which often require remote experts providing instructions. In addition, the service will mitigate the major problem of trauma patients arriving at UAB (Level 1 trauma center) with no imaging available. Lastly, the system will include extensive data and process logging, which will provide valuable data on use patterns and image resource utilization, allowing for more effective distribution of imaging resources within the estate. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): Inadequate access to medical imaging data increases patient and provider risk, impairs optimal care, and increases cost. Completion of the proposed Health Image Exchange service will enable providers to access medical imaging across the involved institutions, greatly enhancing information at the site of need, especially for trauma patients, thereby supporting better decisions and reducing the cost of duplication. The system is designed according to recognized standards, is vendor neutral and will support expansion and deployment to service remote geographical areas, thus significantly enhancing information access. The project is highly relevant to today's high-profile initiatives to improve care and reduce cost.