The Key Behind Deconstructing PACS
Today many healthcare organizations are moving away from departmental PACS in an effort to provide more access to images as well as patient data. Electronic medical record access is the catalyst for some of this change, but so too is the patient expectations and accessibility issues clinicians face. Can deconstructing PACS be the answer to more beneficial processes?
There is currently a fundamental change occurring in the PACS industry as providers are moving away from a traditional view. For more than two decades, not much has shifted in this area, but the shift is definitely in motion now as “deconstructing PACS” has become the buzzword for ending data silos.
Cloud-based digital archives and vendor neutral archives (VNA) are helping to precipitate this change away from the basic idea of enterprise imaging. In the past, it was normal to take all the data, including medical imaging, and store it in silos that were department specific. Obviously, this caused issues in regard to access. Bringing in universal viewer technology is helping to break down these silos, essentially deconstructing PACS as we know them.
For decades, radiology has been placed in control of all medical imaging, managing data in siloed radiology PACS. The digitization of healthcare has pushed the need to place more data in archives that are easily manageable via electronic means. This has caused challenges for many IT departments due to the lack of non-proprietary solutions. Communication between departments, let alone disparate facilities, has been hampered. This is another reason “deconstructing PACS” has become so prevalent in discussions among IT professionals today.
Rather than have each department within an organization manage their data, putting it all under the umbrella of the organization’s IT department is a much preferred method. However, there is another option that more healthcare organizations are becoming attracted to – cloud-based management of healthcare images.
Deconstructing PACS has gone to another level with the cloud-based, VNA-fueled formula of image management. Rather than breaking it down department-by-department and putting the impetus on the organization’s IT staff, remote vendors are managing all the updates, upgrades, maintenance and management of the data via geographically unique servers that can offer near 100 percent uptime.
Furthermore, this remote management allows organizations to maintain their autonomy while saving money on image storage, management and access services. Perhaps the biggest perk is that they gain better access to images and can share them with other departments and clinicians in other facilities more freely.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we’ve developed solutions that offer a 360-degree fix to any problem regarding your image management. If your PACS is outdated and being pushed beyond its limits, contact us and let’s discuss how our industry-leading innovations can put you on a better path to problem-free image management.