Top Benefits of Going Digital with Your Medical Imaging Records

Your medical imaging reports contain very important information about your health. By accessing and reviewing your imaging and reports, you can track developments in your health journey, allowing you to work with your care team to determine appropriate next steps and treatments.

Modern medical images are produced digitally, which can create challenges when accessing your own images for diagnostic purposes. These images are large digital files that are difficult to transfer through traditional electronic methods. Due to this obstacle, clinics often store images on CDs for transfer, adding further hurdles to the process of obtaining your own records.

CDs can be broken or lost in transit, delaying vital diagnoses and treatment. Additionally, CD readers are becoming increasingly rare in modern computer hardware—most current laptops don’t include them. Even if you can access a CD, medical image files are stored in DICOM format, requiring a specialized DICOM reader to open them.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to view, share, and store your medical images and reports. Digital platforms like PocketHealth eliminate the complications of file sharing and CD delivery while offering security and personalized insights about your results. With a digital platform, you can easily share your medical images and reports as needed, whether with specialists, family, or caregivers in order to avoid delays in your care.

This post will explore why digital storage is the best choice for your medical images, how the process works, and the benefits of simple, secure access.

 

The benefits of going digital

Digitally storing your medical images and reports solves more than just the problem of having enough appropriately maintained and secure physical space. When your medical images are digital you can:

• Access them anywhere, anytime: Digital access means you can refer to and share your images in diagnostic quality whenever you need, whether you’re at a specialist across town, at work or on vacation on the other side of the planet.
• Be efficient during consultations: Spend your appointments discussing your health issues and solutions, rather than waiting for images to arrive or load. You can even share your images ahead of time, so your doctor is up to date when you arrive.
• Better understand your results: Having access to your images and reports gives you the time and space necessary to understand your complete health picture so that you can be fully informed and involved in your treatment and progress.
• Centrally store family records: If you’re a caregiver for a child or parent, you can easily access their images. This allows you to keep abreast of their progress, share it with other family members and caregivers, and have all the information you need to advocate for their health.
• Keep your records forever: In Canada, healthcare providers are required to keep medical records for 10-16 years, depending on which province you live in. In the U.S., HIPAA requires records to be stored for at least 6 years. When your medical images and reports are digital, you’ll always have access to them, even if your doctor retires or closes their practice.
• Prepare for your next steps: Having access to your medical images and reports gives you a sense of control. You can absorb information in your own time and terms and arrive at your appointments fully informed.
• Streamline sharing with specialists: Digital access allows you to instantly share your medical images with multiple healthcare providers in diagnostic quality—no more waiting for specialists to send or receive images or reports.

Fast, secure digital access can drive better health outcomes more quickly. When a persistent cough forced Norm to abandon a trip and seek medical care, having digital access allowed him to view his X-ray on his own device, send the image for a second opinion, and share it with his doctor during a follow-up appointment.

 

How PocketHealth simplifies digital access

PocketHealth gives you secure, permanent digital storage for your medical images and reports. Working with more than 800 hospitals and imaging clinics across North America, we make it fast and easy for you to access and share your records.

PocketHealth makes it easy to access and share your medical records.Instead of navigating multiple patient portals for different clinics or doctors, you can store all your images and reports in one secure location, and share them in diagnostic quality whenever needed.

Many patients have experienced firsthand the benefits of using PocketHealth when dealing with chronic health conditions. Kristy, a rare disease patient, shares, “Having all my records on PocketHealth allows me to attend healthcare appointments feeling informed and empowered because I have the information at my fingertips.” She also values the reduced stress and anxiety of waiting for test results, as PocketHealth provides immediate access as soon as imaging reports are released.

PocketHealth ensures you’re fully informed when it comes to your health:

• Report Reader provides easy-to-understand definitions of complex medical terms in your reports. It is paired with illustrations and highlights of anatomy in your images so you can better understand your results.
• MyCare Navigator surfaces any follow-up recommendations contained in your report, so you always know what your next steps are. It also creates personalized questions to help you have productive discussions with your doctor.
• Breast Health tools calculate your breast cancer risk score and help you manage the mammogram process.

PocketHealth is dedicated to protecting the privacy of your personal health information. It uses bank-level encryption, two-step identification, and password protection to meet or exceed all requirements for health data safety in Canada (PHIPA) and the U.S. (HIPAA).

 

Real-life applications

Blair M. saw nutritionists, physiotherapists and other specialists when she was diagnosed with celiac disease. Used to collecting and sharing CDs with specialists, she was thrilled to encounter PocketHealth. Signing up with PocketHealth gave Blair a sense of control. Easy access to her records was helpful when going from doctor to doctor and also gave her tools to prepare for appointments.

Dan had signed up for Pockethealth a week before he broke his collarbone in a cycling accident out of town. Sharing his X-rays with a local ER doctor allowed him to fast-track his surgery. PocketHealth saved Dan a week and a half of pain and allowed him to have surgery at his preferred hospital.

Being able to share her medical images made a huge difference in Jeanne’s life. After years of cancer treatment, she suffered from persistent joint pain. While on vacation with her son in Costa Rica, she was able to share her images with a local doctor who provided an innovative treatment that drastically reduced her pain. Because of PocketHealth, Jeanne was able to obtain treatment that made a huge difference in her life.

 

Take Control with PocketHealth

Trusted by more than 2 million patients, PocketHealth puts you in control of your medical images and reports—allowing you to see, share, and store them securely in diagnostic quality.

With PocketHealth, you can:

• Access all your medical images and reports in one secure location.
• Share them instantly with specialists, family, or caregivers.
• Better understand your health with easy-to-understand tools like Report Reader and MyCare Navigator.
• Ensure your records are always available, no matter where life takes you.

Getting started is simple: Select your hospital or clinic, enter your details, and set up your secure account. You’ll be notified as soon as your medical images and reports are ready to view. Access your records today!