VNA in the Cloud Assists in the Deconstructing PACS Discussion
There is ongoing discussion about new technology in the medical IT industry today,
and a lot of it has to do with deconstructing PACS. The medical imaging industry relies heavily on technology, and as we all know, technology changes frequently. Keeping up with the changes in technology and in patient expectations can be taxing at best.
Anyone who has been in the industry long enough will know that it hasn’t been that long since radiology professionals were peering into light boxes looking at film images to gain the knowledge they needed about the inner workings of a patient. These archaic tools were once groundbreaking devices. When PACS came along, the same could be said of them. However, many providers are frustrated trying to get their PACS to do things it’s not designed for. That’s why there is so much talk about deconstructing PACS. Medical IT staff are looking for ways to deconstruct PACS so they can be compartmentalized by application for the purpose of visualization, workflow, sharing, and archiving. However, what can’t be deconstructed is the DICOM standard.
The DICOM standard is important to the medical imaging community because it’s what is used to keep medical imaging consistent from one organization to the next. This is the caveat that has to be addressed when the issue of deconstructing PACS is discussed. It’s been more than 20 years since PACS first burst onto the scene. Think about all the changes that have occurred in technology since then. However, PACS are a considerable capital investment, even for the larger medical groups that have a larger budget. Many providers have stretched themselves thin with their PACS.
Patients are seeking healthcare services from a variety of doctors and specialists today, which is another change to note. It’s important because medical images captured at one provider will be utilized at another, and patients don’t want to have to pay for the same exam twice, or three times. Therefore, there are many different interfaces that are involved when it comes to medical imaging, and they need to be transferred/shared from one provider to the next without roadblocks.
Vendor neutral archiving (VNA) is stepping up to give these images a chance to be shared without proprietary technology getting in the way. It’s impossible to talk about deconstructing PACS without mentioning VNA, which is blazing a path as providers look for more efficient ways to access, share and archive medical images and data. In many respects, without VNA, there would be no sharing involved in the process of deconstructing PACS. VNA in the cloud is giving providers access to medical images that they could never have dreamed of before the advent of the Internet.
OffSite Image Management, Inc. is a leading provider of cloud-based VNA services. Our solutions are giving healthcare professionals a new way to discuss their PACS deconstruction process. Contact us today and find out how our solutions can benefit your operation.