About the Project

R-Bay was a EU-funded market validation project under the eTEN programme. The project ran between 2007 and 2009 and had eleven partners from eight European countries.

The aim of the R-Bay project was to establish a online eMarketplace within the field of radiology, i.e. an eMarketplace for the buying and selling of imaging related eHealth services. Thus R-Bay paved the way for the first ground-work for the creation of an internal market for exchanging eHealth services and this will lift the sharing of healthcare resources to a new dimension within a pan-European scope.

During the project period the R-Bay services was tested in 6 field trials each consisting of a customer and a clinical provider. The concept that was validated was an eRadiology service portfolio, which delivered imaging related services in a new way. The portfolio consisted of four services: eInterpretation, eProcessing, eArchiving and eTraining.

The four services were included in the overall R-Bay service offered as a combination an efficienct and improvemed clinical process. eInterpretation was the primary service as it was the actual solution for networked eCollaboration. The additional three services were technical solutions that supported eInterpretation.

eRadiology

The reality in Europe today is that some regions experience a shortage of radiologists while other regions have a surplus. This inequality can be levelled out by means of eRadiology.

Traditional eRadiology uses point-to-point connections, often referred to as tele-radiology, between clients and providers. It is a well-established service but the set-up has restrictions because the number of providers, and thus the type and availability of expertise that can be accessed, is limited.

The vision of R-Bay was to extend traditional eRadiology by creating an eMarketplace, a "many-to-many" connection, which would function as a commodity brokering and exchange of radiology services. Thus R-Bay facilitated the viewing and consulting of images across organisations, regions or nations. On the eMarketplace, providers can make their services available at a specified price and with standardised specifications, and the costumers will buy the services via a trusted and secure network.