Medical Imaging Solutions in the Cloud Offer Great Advantages
It wasn’t that long ago that most organizations were using the cloud for storage only. You would use
it as a back-up option for your data, including medical imaging. While that is still true of how it is used today, it has also opened up vast new numbers of solutions inciting new expectations for medical imaging in the cloud.
Confidence in the cloud has grown. In fact, healthcare professionals in different departments and disparate facilities are sharing medical imaging. They can work together despite a geographical divide. Patients are also finding these cloud solutions to be to their benefit – they’re gaining access to their medical images and taking a more active role in their healthcare.
Unfortunately, there are still a number of healthcare facilities that haven’t moved beyond fax machines and burning their medical imaging into compact discs. It’s a sharp divide between a society that is streaming movies, listening to music and sharing all sorts of data through the cloud, yet a percentage of the medical community is utilizing what most would consider legacy systems.
Change is definitely in the air. According to a survey in 2016 by the Health Information and Management Systems Society, the number of cloud computing in healthcare tripled between 2014 and 2016. They aren’t just using it for storage – they’re tapping into application development and patient engagement solutions.
The survey also found that with the increased demand for healthcare, caused in part by an aging population, the role of IT in the healthcare industry is becoming more involved. This involvement is crucial because if the numbers are correct, it doesn’t appear that there will be enough healthcare providers to keep up with demand, giving cloud-based solutions a more prominent platform to help out.
Radiology is poised to be a model for how the cloud can work for healthcare. The file images can be quite large, which offers a challenge that many IT professionals have stepped up to manage. Entire PACS systems can now be funneled to cloud solutions, which are helped along by vendor neutral archiving technology, which essentially frees providers from the shackles of proprietary solutions.
For organizations still tethered to their CD burning technology, the cloud will open up a number of exciting opportunities for you to improve. Not only will you be able to cast aside your antiquated technology, you’ll also find it easier to stay compliant in this ever-changing industry.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we’ve developed a cloud platform that is a perfect solution for providers who have struggled to gain access to medical imaging. Our solutions are often referred to as 360-degree solutions because we not only provide a storage solution; we’re also invested in allowing our clients 24/7/365 access to data, teleradiology improvements and much, much more. Contact us today and find out how you can improve your patient care while saving money.