For those living in densely populated areas, you might be surprised to learn that there are more than 2,000 rural hospitals serving roughly one-fifth of America’s population living in remote areas. They are called critical access hospitals, and while they might not have the resources of the larger hospitals in urban centers, they provide a vital service.
Small hospitals provide the only source of healthcare for residents in the rural areas. These hospitals are expected to provide urgent care services, engage communities in developing health care systems and offer medical imaging services that might need to be transmitted to larger hospitals where specialists practice.
Information technology, or IT, is also vital in these rural communities. IT helps healthcare professionals coordinate care and offer instant access to patient information, including medical imaging. Like the larger hospitals, rural hospitals are adopting electronic health records systems (EHR) to improve their workflow processes and patient care protocols.
Since rural facilities are often limited financially and in qualified personnel, the adoption of EHR can be a real problem. Regardless of their ability to pay for these technological advances, they are required by law to comply. Not many people will argue that health IT has the ability to change the way rural healthcare providers collect information, store it and share, but the ability of these rural facilities to pay for what vendors are offering has been a source of pain.
EHR software can substantially help the approximately 60 million people residing in rural America. These are people who are isolated from providers with more resources and ability to diagnose significant health issues. In some cases, it’s the medical imaging that is the key to making that diagnosis. When a vendor neutral archiving (VNA) system is in place, the ability to share this information becomes much easier. In fact, some hospital groups that have not implemented VNA have difficulty sharing information across departments because the disparate systems they use.
The power of VNA is that it doesn’t “care” what system is being used. All a provider needs is a workspace on which to view the medical imaging. For critical access hospitals, VNA is a lifesaver for patients who need their medical imaging accessed by the appropriate professionals practicing across the state, perhaps even across state lines.
VNA has proven its flexibility, which is why it’s quickly gaining ground. As providers work to respond to the demands of Stage 2 of Meaningful Use standards, which focuses on electronic radiological reporting, establishing a VNA service is paramount to success.
One vendor that has its eye on the rural areas of the country is OffSite Image Management, Inc. At OffSite, we understand the limitations of your rural facility, both financially and in your personnel. You don’t have to worry about bringing on more IT staff to implement our solutions – we handle almost everything. For more information about our VNA services, contact us today.