By SCBIZ Staff

Logical Images, a Rochester, N.Y., developer of software that helps clinicians make faster and more accurate diagnoses of visually identifiable conditions, has entered into a three-year agreement with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Logical Images' VisualDx disease recognition system will be implemented in 65 South Carolina hospitals participating in the HRSA Bioterrorism Grant Program, along with the Catawba Indian Nation Indian Health Service Clinic. The system will also be installed in the DHEC Central Office in Columbia, and in health departments within all eight public health regions.

"The statewide implementation of VisualDx is a great example of how South Carolina is equipping its hospitals to manage public health emergencies such as a bioterrorism event or pandemic outbreak," said Dr. Martin Lutz, medical director of emergency services at the Greenville Hospital System. "The system provides residents and attending physicians in our department with a tremendous resource to help them quickly and correctly diagnose unusual conditions."

At the request of DHEC, Logical Images has customized the VisualDx package for South Carolina to include innovative Health Alert Links, allowing the state to link public health alerts and disease reporting information to specific disease pages within the system. This alert capability in VisualDx provides an additional method for clinicians to stay informed of communicable disease outbreaks and other time-sensitive information, thereby promoting the fast and efficient transmission of data, especially valuable in the event of an emergency.

"From an emergency preparedness perspective, the Health Alert Links embedded in pages of VisualDx are extremely valuable," said Sue Boeker, infection control nurse at the Greenville Hospital System. "The system quickly disseminates information about potential health threats and puts notices directly in the hands of practitioners, enabling us to implement effective infection prevention and control measures. From alerting health care providers about an outbreak of food-borne illness to notifying us about a flu epidemic, VisualDx Health Alert Links will be a strong tool for hospitals statewide."

Used in a growing number of hospitals and state health departments, VisualDx is a comprehensive resource for visually identifiable diseases. Health care professionals can enter observations, symptoms, medical histories and test results, and then compare a patient's visual or radiological presentation side-by-side with images of possible diagnoses, sorted by relevance.