Houston Medical Imaging (HMI), a chain of three outpatient imaging centers in Texas, has tested Carestream Health’s MyVue patient portal.  

The patient portal, which equips patients with online access to their medical imaging exams and radiology reports, can be accessed from web-enabled devices such as the iPad.

“During the first three months that we offered the patient portal, almost 1,500 patients—which is about 50 percent of our patients—logged onto their accounts to view imaging studies using MyVue,” said Randall Stenoien,  MD, radiologist and CEO of HMI.

Among the patient users, IT received 47 phone calls, most of which were for password resets or other issues not related to the usage of the patient portal, according to HMI.  

The ability to share imaging studies online has the potential to reduce the need for duplicate imaging exams, according to Rochester, N.Y.-based Carestream. The portal can help eliminate the equipment, personnel and mailing costs related to both data output onto CD/DVDs and possibly reduce the need to input data from CDs/DVDs.

The MyVue portal is currently in trade trial and is scheduled to be available in February or March 2013.