In 2018, Indiana Donor Network began working with CompuMed with one goal in mind: to increase the number of organs transplanted by providing better and faster imaging to transplant surgeons. That goal hasn’t just been met; you could say it’s been surpassed.
Since then, Indiana Donor Network has achieved 185% growth in total organ donors and continues to set new records for organs transplanted each year. A key factor? The organization’s ongoing commitment to innovation, including the launch of an integrated, modern diagnostic image-sharing workflow.
Total Organ Donors
Journey to Seamless DICOM Sharing
Before partnering with CompuMed, Indiana Donor Network’s diagnostic image-sharing process had limitations. In some cases, organ recovery coordinators utilized photos or videos, or transplant centers could see the read but not the image.
A significant leap forward came in 2018 with the implementation of PowerShare, which allowed DICOM-quality images to be sent via password-protected links within UNet. The change earned positive feedback from transplant center partners, but Indiana Donor Network wasn’t done innovating.
The real turning point came with Direct Connect, CompuMed’s platform for secure DICOM sharing directly from diagnostic devices. It eliminated the need for screenshots or burned CDs, came at no cost to donor hospitals, and required no set-up fees for OPOs.
In 2020, Indiana Donor Network deployed Direct Connect in a big way as part of the launch of its Donor Care Unit (DCU), known as the Indiana Donor Network Organ and Tissue Recovery Center, during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The opening of the Recovery Center was an all-hands-on-deck effort to help save donation,” says Sherry Quire, director of Organ Services at Indiana Donor Network. “Despite the challenges, it was up and running in just 32 days – with Direct Connect integration available from day one.”
Working closely with Indiana Donor Network’s IT department, CompuMed helped integrate the platform into the team’s diagnostic workflow, starting with portable chest X-rays and eventually expanding to CT and cardiac cath image sharing.
A Faster, Simpler Image-Sharing Workflow
The effect was immediate.
“It reduced time to allocation right away,” says Sherry. “Instead of waiting on someone to burn a disc – which newer computers don’t always support – the imaging is available within seconds or minutes.”
That speed allows Indiana Donor Network to request reads from CompuMed sub-specialists in real-time, enabling:
- Rapid turnaround
- Support for multiple diagnostics
- Real-time feedback, especially helpful for newly trained staff
Transplant surgeons benefit, too, with fast access to consistent, high-quality imaging and reads – empowering confident decisions in time-sensitive moments.
Supporting a Shift in Donor Management
By 2024, 86% of Indiana Donor Network’s eligible brain-dead donor heroes – 33% of all organ donor heroes that year – were brought to the DCU, a major shift from relying solely on hospital partners for donor care. The DCU now houses a six-bed ICU, a dedicated OR and a suite of diagnostics run almost exclusively by the OPO’s trained team members. Direct Connect supports nearly every case, often across multiple modalities.
“One of the reasons this partnership has been so successful is that CompuMed sat down with us to find out what our pain points were, what barriers we faced and how we could innovate together to solve them,” says Sherry.
Indiana Donor Network’s 2025 data shows nearly one additional organ transplanted per donor when the donor is brought to the in-house DCU. It’s a trend the organization has seen over the last few years.
“We can attribute that to a lot of things – but mostly being able to immediately take care of that donor hero, knowing whether they need a repeat chest X-ray, CT or echo and being able to show how that organ is being readied for transplant,” says Sherry. “We wouldn’t be able to make these quick decisions or have this level of transparency without some of the things we’ve partnered on with CompuMed.”
The result? More opportunities for transplantation and more calls to people waiting on a lifesaving gift.
Beyond the DCU: Supporting Hospital-Based Donor Cases, Too
Over time, Indiana Donor Network has also helped lessen the burden on hospital partners by streamlining hospital-based imaging workflows. While many of the organization’s donors are moved to the DCU, some remain at donor hospitals due to medical instability, coroner declines, family considerations or other factors.
“In 2023, CompuMed met with our Hospital Services team and some of our donor hospitals to walk them through the Direct Connect process,” says Sherry. “Now, when we’re going into these hospitals and hospital systems, we don’t have to make any additional requests. They’re just automatically uploading the high-quality donor images, and we can share a secure link or QR code just like we do with DCU-based images.”
Results That Matter: Faster Uploads. Transplant-Minded TATs.
Since adopting Direct Connect, Indiana Donor Network has been able to share links to over 1,000 imaging studies by CompuMed. From these cases, we can see the time saved is measurable – and meaningful.Upload Speeds:
DCU uploads
~2 minutes
Hospital-based uploads
~5 minutes
Before Direct Connect
1-4 hours via disc burning/manual transfers
Read Turnaround Times:
34%
completed within
30 minutes
70%
completed within
60 minutes
99.5%
completed within
120 minutes
“Not every interpretation is STAT,” says Sherry. “Even when we’re aiming for 120 minutes, they’re meeting that mark nearly every time. That kind of consistency helps us work faster and more efficiently.”
Let’s Eliminate Image-Sharing Delays — Together
Indiana Donor Network’s success reflects its unwavering commitment to innovation, and CompuMed is proud to be one part of that story. Whether enabling faster reads out of the DCU or a donor hospital, Direct Connect helps eliminate image-sharing delays and supports more confident transplant decision-making.
Want to see how it could work for your OPO? Let’s connect and explore how integrated diagnostic image-sharing could help your team maximize every opportunity for donation.
Don’t miss our on-demand Industry Insights webinar to hear more about how Indiana Donor Network is advancing donation and transplantation through innovation.