January 26, 2016 — lifeIMAGE announced that it has acquired Mammosphere, the leading national medical exchange network specializing in mammography and women’s imaging. Through this acquisition, the Mammosphere network, which provides hospitals, imaging centers and patients with electronic access to prior mammograms, will be made available to healthcare providers currently utilizing the lifeIMAGE platform. The goal is to improve access to comparison studies and enhance the effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs.
With an estimated 60 million women in the United States undergoing regular breast cancer screenings, Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA)-certified imaging centers perform nearly 40 million mammography procedures each year. It is not uncommon for women to move between medical facilities, or to new cities or states, during their recommended mammographic age. The Mammosphere network saves providers time, energy and resources by allowing them to securely access an individual patient's prior exams, regardless of timing or location of the performed study.
Additionally, using the vendor-neutral Mammosphere network, providers can allow patients to take a more active role in their treatment and ensure continuity of care by making tests performed at their facilities available to patients for their personal use via secure, online accounts. With this access, patients can easily share imaging studies with new providers and can store and access additional ultrasounds, magnetic resonance images (MRIs) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CTs) at any time. This is particularly useful to patients who are at risk for breast cancer, are one of the millions of women in the United States diagnosed with breast cancer, or have plans to change providers.
Breast imaging centers utilizing the Mammosphere network have demonstrated significant improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of their breast cancer screening programs. After the introduction of Mammosphere at one facility in 2015, there was a 48 percent reduction in mammograms read without prior comparison, and a 73 percent decrease in patient callbacks due to false-positive findings. These improvements in the quality of care prevented the cost of unnecessary imaging and testing, kept new screening exams on schedule for the center, and, most importantly, saved patients weeks of emotional turbulence and unwarranted concern about their outcome.
For more information: www.lifeimage.com
April 18, 2024 
