Mechanisms for exchange of image data to support distant medical consultation

The VA has developed an integrated infrastructure to support the exchange of medical data, including images and text report data, between medical centers. This capability is expected to support teleconsulting and meet a variety of existing medical staffing and consultation needs. Consultation from distant locations requires at least the same complete integrated patient record available to onsite physicians. Several mechanisms are being explored to support distant medical consultation. Multimedia extensions to the VA's electronic mail system have been developed to allow images and other data objects to be included in electronic mail messages. Another approach that has been prototyped is to extend existing local imaging networks to produce more widely distributed imaging systems. These approaches will be described and discussed.