CHICAGO—The RSNA and The Sequoia Project, a nonprofit healthcare organization, have collaborated on a new program to increase compliance and consistency within the healthcare marketplace, the organizations announced this week at the RSNA 2015 annual meeting.

The Image Share Validation Program was designed to improve patient care through encouraging imaging vendors and radiology sites to improve access to medical images and reports.

“Interoperability has been recognized as perhaps the biggest gap in what the health information technology domain has to offer patients,” David S. Mendelson, MD, vice chair of radiology IT at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, said in a statement. “The RSNA Image Share Validation program in partnership with The Sequoia Project is sending a message. To promote the best interest and care of our patients, the world of imaging is ready to rapidly advance standards-based solutions for imaging interoperability. These are standards employed elsewhere in the world and present a solution that can evolve as new technologies arise.”

The Sequoia Project’s CEO, Mariann Yeager, said the organization is excited to work closely with RSNA.

“There are significant synergies between us and RSNA, and this initial pilot is just one step toward greater health IT interoperability,” Yeager said.

Pilot testing of the program is scheduled to begin in 2016. RSNA will work closely with both The Sequoia Project and the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Vendors must pass the testing program to use the official RSNA Image Share Validation mark, which then signals to purchasers the vendor is fully compliant.