If you’ve ever had a CT scan or an MRI, you most likely didn’t want to repeat it. But did you know that 20 percent of images must be performed again because they are lost, or misfiled, or can’t be shared among physicians’ offices?

Unnecessary and redundant medical procedures are considered a major driver of healthcare spending, and they also have an impact on patient safety, according to CBS News Detroit.

To help combat this problem, DICOM Grid, provider of a cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for medical imaging applications, today announced the close of a $5 million financing expansion round led by Canaan Partners, CHL Medical Partners and existing individual investors, according to a company press release.

The funds will be used to expand distribution of DG Suite, the company’s product line for managing diagnostic imaging and related health data.

Diagnostic imaging has been the fastest growing component of total hospital costs, increasing 213 percent from 1999 to 2007, according to CBS News. And up to $100 million a year is spent on redundant scans, according to the company.  

According to a recent study, 72 percent of those whose images were not made electronically available had to repeat their procedure, making them six times more likely to undergo duplicative imaging tests.

DIMCOM plans to help eliminate this redundancy through its solution for real-time access to images, such as X-rays, CT scans or MRIs, on any device, anywhere.

The company also announced other milestones, including the signing of two new hospitals, Frederick Memorial Hospital in Frederick, Maryland and Ella Health, a women’s health center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the expansion of its relationship with Texas Medical Center; the opening up of DG Suite to third-party developers, and the fact that it has more than 450 million images under management, growing close to 1 million images per day.

“Winning the confidence of customers like Frederick Memorial and Ella Health, third party developers and investors reflects our successful execution of a clear strategy,” Morris Panner, CEO of DICOM Grid, said, in the press release. “Online banking and business software solutions like salesforce.com have revolutionized business operations. Healthcare is on the cusp of a similar revolution, and our diagnostic medical imaging storage technologies can be a part of that sweeping market change.”

DG Suite, the company’s flagship product line, helps hospitals, imaging centers and doctors reduce costs by allowing the sharing, exchanging and storing of diagnostic imaging and is now in operation at more than 40 hospitals throughout the United States, with more than 450 million diagnostic images stored in the DICOM Grid infrastructure, according to the press release.