Find Out Why Vendor Neutral Archiving is all the Rage
One of the major perks of utilizing vendor neutral archiving technology is that it allows for better
access to medical images, regardless of whose PACS you’re using. However, as Michael Gray, a medical imaging expert says, a big part of the value is in the cost savings vendor neutral archiving users recoup in migrating data in the future.
Gray said users are able to “take ownership of data instead of asking vendors for it,” and that’s exactly what the best vendor neutral archiving (VNA) vendors are offering today. They are offering freedom from proprietary situations where vendors assign costly charges to the regular migration of data. No provider liked the process, but they had zero options until VNA came around.
To connect with a vendor that can really offer all the freedom and access you want, you need to make sure they’re operating under the correct definition of VNA. Here’s a checklist you should go by:
- Provides context management, which is the ability to manipulate DICOM tags
- Must have the ability to store the complete suite of DICOM SOP classes
- Must store all objects in a non-proprietary format
- Must handle ADT updates to the image files
- Must support most inclusive DICOM query/retrieve specifications
- Must include context management abilities, including being able to prepare PACS through HL7 for ingestion of images from another, disparate PACS
PACS technology has never been designed around great communication due to the proprietary factors that come into play with the business model. This is where VNA also steps up and it’s why that last bullet item is so important. Not only are PACS from disparate vendors and from providers from outside the system unable to communicate, there are often situations where PACS within the same system are unable to communicate.
Another thing to look for in a VNA provider is that they are cloud-based. This is especially important given the multisite environment that most healthcare professionals are entrenched in today. Be aware that some PACS vendors will use a central PACS archive that aggregates images from multiple PACS. This is not going to work as smoothly as adopting a true VNA solution because you won’t have any autonomy when it comes to controlling your images. They will still have the power to charge big money for migrating data should the PACS organization need to be shuffled/reorganized.
Instead of paying up to $300,000 for migrating data under the traditional system, consider the cloud-based vendor offering excellent VNA technology. This is what OffSite Image Management, Inc. is here to offer. In fact, we’re one of the leading vendors in VNA technology for medical imaging. Contact us today and let’s discuss your needs. We guarantee we can save you money.