LifeImage pulls in $17.5M for medical imaging network

Access (or lack of it) to medical imagery is a costly problem in the health care system. It often leads to unnecessary, duplicative procedures when a provider encounters a patient from another care network. In the absence of images, new images are taken. Some say this problem alone costs the health system $30 billion each year.

And that’s the pain point LifeImage wants to soothe. The Newton, Mass.-based company already runs a large network that transmits medical imagery to and from more than 120 multi-site health systems, and it’s just taken another big chunk of capital to extend the network further.

The company said today it had closed a new $17.5 million round of financing led by Cambia Health Solutions, a nonprofit health insurer and provider network based in Portland, Oregon.

LifeImage’s existing investors also took part in the round. They are Cardinal Partners, Galen Partners, Long River Ventures, Mass Ventures, and Partners Innovation Fund.

LifeImage’s imaging network integrates with the Epic and Cerner electronic health records systems, the clinical systems used by a majority of large medical groups and hospitals in the U.S.