The need for providers and patients to exchange and share imaging has never been more apparent, yet many organizations are only now, as a part of a larger enterprise imaging initiative, taking steps to streamline an important process that has historically been facilitated with the use of CDs or insecure methods of communication. This paper will provide an introduction to concepts and common-use cases for image exchange, outline challenges that have hindered adoption to date, and describe standards for image exchange that show increasing promise of being adopted by vendors and providers.
Keywords: DICOM; FHIR; Health information exchange; IHE; Image exchange; Interoperability; Medical image sharing; Telehealth; Telemedicine; XDS; XDS-I.