Medical Imaging Solutions That Strike a Perfect Balance
Remember when everyone was so skeptical about the cloud? It really wasn’t that long ago, but now
fewer than 20 percent of healthcare organizations are operating without a cloud-based solution. However, as value-based care proves more and more to be a permanent trend, healthcare organizations looking for medical imaging solutions are going to put even more emphasis on cloud-based solutions.
Merger and acquisition action is common in the healthcare industry, and it’s leading to larger regional networks. However, this action is not without risk. The risk is often associated with medical imaging solutions. When a facility is linked to another and they no longer have access to their prior imaging, a bottleneck occurs. The images reside in multiple places, making them even tougher to access. To solve the medical imaging solutions problem, many facilities are looking to cloud-based vendor neutral archiving (VNA) technology to get them out of the rough situation.
Interoperability is also something that many healthcare organizations are taking great strides to improve. Providers realize they make more money when they avoid duplicating medical imaging procedures or undertaking unnecessary medical imaging procedures. This is another value-based care initiative that is covered in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which contains 22 performance criteria for radiology.
Moving to the cloud to streamline image management can help to reduce duplicate imaging. Furthermore, interoperability networks and HIEs are taking a fresh look at electronic medical records, which may or may not include imaging. More facilities are making an effort to develop a fuller, more complete picture of the patient’s data by including imaging in the EMR.
But what about security in the enterprise imaging landscape? If the value-based and collaborative care models are to succeed, doesn’t the security of the data need an upgrade? Many organizations struggle with usability as it relates to security and the equal balance between them can be difficult at best. The best cloud-based vendors are using highly secure datacenters to ensure that all data is protected, but at the same time, the access to it by authorized users is not interrupted.
The best vendors are offering solutions that free up the flow of data from one facility to another or even from department to department, which is an issue when disparate PACS are in play.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we’ve approached enterprise imaging issues with an eye toward security and availability. Too many providers have run in to challenges with medical imaging. They often fear their images will be held hostage by a third-party vendor, especially when a migration needs to occur. With OffSite, you still have total ownership of your data and we’ll never hold you back. In fact, our solutions are going to save you money while improving the way you provide care to your patients. Contact us today and let’s talk about how to get started.