What You Need in a Vendor Neutral Archiving Solution
Healthcare organizations are always looking to improve their technology, often in an attempt to provide better patient care. However, for organizations looking to replace legacy PACS, they are also looking to gain access to a vendor neutral viewer, which can improve workflow and put into action a more stable infrastructure. Most healthcare radiology and IT professionals would agree it’s important that the vendor neutral archiving technology they connect with has an independent index that separates the radiology PACS storage from the archive.
VNA can be designed in a way that makes it more than simply an independent radiology storage component. In fact, it can be engineered in such a way that it becomes the single repository for all medical images. Organizations take this approach when they require a more robust and extensively independent solution for storage of their medical images. Furthermore, they’re finding this solution to be a more advanced way to improve their access to images, improves their ability to share the images, and improves workflow. Departments that were once left out to fend for themselves are now fully connected to the big picture and they can give thanks to a vendor neutral viewer.
There is a lot of talk out there about VNA right now, which can lead to some confusion because not all healthcare organizations are operating under the same definition. Therefore, it’s important to go into the selection process armed with what you truly need and what defines “true” VNA for better vendor neutral viewer abilities.
Make these bullet points part of your checklist as you consider your new VNA solution:
- Can handle ADT updates to the image files that are stored in your archive
- Can store the complete suite of DICOM SOP classes
- Provides context management, which is the ability to manipulate DICOM tags to convert the DICOM implementation and demographic needs of the PACS vendor
- Context management must include the ability to prepare a PACS for HL7 data migration from disparate PACS
- Can store objects in a non-proprietary manner, which can be understood by other systems
Increasingly, one of the more important components of a VNA system is in its ability to communicate in a non-proprietary manner. It’s important because so many people today are seeking out healthcare advice and treatment from multiple professionals at multiple facilities. It’s important that regardless of the type of system each facility is running, they can all digest the data on any patient, and this includes medical images as well as HL7 data.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., clients are choosing us because we offer a scalable solution that has no storage limits. And because we’re not offering a one-size-fits-all solution, our clients save, because we only charge them for what they require. There are no fees related to starting up with OffSite, migration or revolving fees that sneak up on facilities unexpected. In fact, we can offer cost savings of up to 60 percent, so contact us today and get started on a clearer, bigger picture.