AT&T and Accenture launch cloud-based medical imaging

AT&T and Accenture announced today that they have partnered to create a cloud-based medical imaging solution designed to enable radiologists and other healthcare professionals to electronically share, review and store medical images such as X-rays or MRI scans.

The offering “combines Accenture’s systems integration experience with our cloud-based technology [to provide] virtually real-time access to medical images while looking to reduce costs,” said Randall Porter, assistant vice president for AT&T for Health, in an interview.

The new offering, known as the Accenture Medical Imaging Solution, also aims to enable national hospital networks to centrally manage medical images and collaborate efficiently with other institutions.

AT&T to provide data centers, network connectivity
At the heart of the Accenture Medical Imaging Solution is AT&T’s Medical Imaging and Information Management system, a cloud based offering previously announced as one of AT&T’s numerous healthcare initiatives (CP: AT&T enhances healthcare offerings).

Health care organizations opting to use Accenture Medical Imaging Solution will use network connectivity from AT&T to securely access software developed by Accenture running on servers in two AT&T data centers, explained Porter. The use of two data centers enables AT&T to offer full redundancy, Porter said. Porter expects most customers to use MPLS connectivity, although Ethernet also will be supported.

AT&T will manage the data center infrastructure underlying the offering through a managed hosting environment and will also be able to support a hybrid cloud approach for those customers who want to also operate the Accenture software from their own data centers.

Healthcare organizations interested in the medical imaging offering will first undergo a workflow analysis and enablement process conducted by Accenture. Included in the analysis will be cost/benefit modeling. As part of this process, Accenture will take into consideration how organizations have historically managed medical imaging and where feasible will attempt to preserve their existing investment.

Asked how AT&T and Accenture plan to differentiate their offering, Porter said, “With this offering, we don’t see any immediate competitors.”