The Mayo Clinic has a reputation as one of the best healthcare facilities in the country. When a person experiences health issues that their medical professionals can’t treat, they often send them to the Mayo Clinic where the best in the industry treat them.
After spending more than 20 years at the top of U.S. News & World Report’s best hospitals in America, Mayo continues to spend about $500 million a year on research. It’s no wonder that when Mayo talks, people listen.
People are listening to Mayo officials who are talking about DICOM storage. Mayo went to a Phoenix-based company called DICOM Grid in an effort to improve its medical imaging viewer. The goal was to improve image sharing between all the physicians associated with Mayo. With more than 3,800 physicians and scientists working at Mayo, there is definitely a need for images to be shared easily and efficiently.
Medical professionals now require the ability to see medical images on the go, which means they want them on their iPads and smart phones. Working with advanced DICOM storage systems, they’re able to achieve this goal.
Doctors say that their ability to see medical images on their mobile devices is critical in their efforts to offer patients cost-effective and thorough care. Acquiring images easily at the point of care through effective DICOM storage access has improved their performance levels.
Technology constantly changes. Healthcare professionals are trying to stay ahead of the changes. The DICOMs are being used to transmit, store, print and handle medical imaging. Most importantly, given the rate at which patients seek care at different institutions, the DICOM format allows this data to be sent from one entity to the next fairly seamlessly, often with the help of a VNA.
Most medical professionals can view these medical images and data from the comfort of their offices as they can now use their laptops, smart phones and tablet computers to view the data.
Since 1983, medical IT professionals have worked to develop an image exchange standard, which eventually became known as the DICOM standard. It really took off in the mid-1990s and has since become an indispensible piece of the puzzle for radiology professionals. There are several levels of support now that we are in the age of the Internet. The first level might be described as image exchange between senders and receivers. Then you have the support levels connected to a database where images can be retrieved.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., allows you to take control of your data while not compromising your security. We at OffSite realized the need for a DICOM exchange of radiological data and that it has to be a secure yet easy process. The goal is to provide better patient care while not pricing out the rural facilities that rely on sharing information just as much as larger facilities with more resources, and at OffSite, we’re meeting that goal.