Merge Healthcare announced mobile technology that enables patients and healthcare professionals to view digital medical images such as CT, MRI, X-ray and other images on an Apple iPhone™ or iPod touch. A demonstration of Merge Mobile™ for the iPhone™ is available free of charge from the iPhone App Store.

Merge Mobile is breakthrough technology intended to help health organizations and clinicians improve quality of care, reduce costs and improve responsiveness to patients. Today, radiologists and physicians have access to patient medical images from computers connected to their practice management or PAC (picture archiving and communications) systems. Applications* built upon Merge Mobile technology will enable radiologists to view emergency cases directly from their iPhone or iPod touch, consult with colleagues and, when necessary, forward critical findings directly and securely to a patient’s referring physician.

“Merge Healthcare will usher in a new era of mobile healthcare by bringing advanced medical imaging information to the fingertips of physicians,” said Justin Dearborn, Merge Healthcare Chief Executive Officer. “Merge Mobile leverages the rapid convergence of mobile and medical technology development to empower new approaches in healthcare delivery and coordination.”

Merge Mobile technology will enable the development of applications to retrieve CT, MRI, X-ray and other images wirelessly, and to perform standard radiologic manipulations to guide decision-making, much like computer-based solutions such as PACS. Few solutions of this kind exist today, and most experience download delays associated with medical imaging’s large data sets. Merge Mobile incorporates advanced remote rendering techniques, including multi-planar reconstruction (MPR), which eliminate downloading of large data quantities to the mobile device and enable near-immediate access to images. Features include remote stack viewing using the iPhone multi-touch interface, scroll, contrast adjustment, zoom and pan. A secure communication protocol addresses privacy.

Merge Healthcare provides sample images and data via a demonstration server with the free Merge Mobile download at www.apple.com/iphone/appstore.

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