Digital imaging and communications in medicine, also known as DICOM, is the application layer network protocol for storing, sharing and printing medical imaging and information. The confidentiality of a DICOM exchange is of great importance to medical practitioners and IT administrators at healthcare facilities.
Medical imaging is often the link between an illness and a diagnosis that leads to effective treatment for that individual. Medical imaging, however, can serve a purpose long after the treatment stops, including research and teaching opportunities. In order for the imaging to leave the confidential DICOM exchange, it must be scrubbed of personal information that often accompanies the images to protect the patient.
An open source DICOM called DICOM Confidential has been developed to assist in taking the identity of the patient out of the record while leaving in relevant information needed for learning purposes. The process is called de-identification. This is just one example of how medical professionals must create a safe playing field for the DICOM exchange.
Oracle Multimedia has also provided a method for making objects in DICOM anonymous. This ensures that DICOM users only see the DICOM content and metadata that they have clearance to view. When a clinician gets into the patient data located in a DICOM, they need full access. However, researchers do not and patient privacy regulations mandate that researchers, who can view the images, cannot see the attributes and metadata included, because it contains information that would identify the patient.
Some of the scrubbing software available today offers configuration, which is helpful because some DICOM data elements aren’t used the way they are supposed to be used, or they have headers that are inappropriate. Many ultrasound images have the demographics burned into the image itself, which poses a problem with most scrubbing software, unless the tools include Photoshop or PowerPoint.
Most academic radiology departments have a system in place where the released data and images are anonymized so that there are no violations of the Privacy regulations in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
DICOM exchange of radiological data from one vendor platform to another is something every healthcare institution strives to have in place. The healthcare community relies on communication to provide the best quality care possible, and a DICOM exchange puts those wheels in motion. Challenges inherent to the picture archiving communication system (PACS) are overcome by the DICOM exchange. But confidentiality must be as high a priority as efficient storage and sharing of medical images and data.
Even rural clinics and hospitals need the efficiencies offered by DICOMs and PACS. OffSite Image Management, Inc., has engineered what they call “The Honeycomb.” It’s a software layer that connects disparate digital silos so data can be shared across multiple systems and multiple organizations. It’s a stable and secure product with a data workflow that is always protected from external threats. Confidentiality is a strictly adhered to rule at OffSite, and Honeycomb delivers on that promise of security.