OffSite Offers PACS and VNA Solutions That Work
Thanks to the sheer volume of medical image studies being carried out on a daily basis, and also because of the changing preferences of patients today, providers are on the lookout for more efficient and effective ways to archive, access and share medical images. Therefore, PACS and VNA have emerged as prominent terms in the discussion. The question is – does everyone have the same description for what PACS and VNA do together?
There is no denying that PACS and VNA have made their mark. By 2018, the market for VNA is expected to hit $210 million. Considering the need for facilities to share images, whether it’s from one department to another or from one facility to another, the growth potential makes sense, particularly because VNA’s leading perk is that it makes sharing easy compared to traditional proprietary methods.
However, the issue that comes up regarding VNA is that not everyone has the same definition of it. Most can agree that VNA will take care of the archival needs that PACS lack. A VNA is also most often sought out for providers who have had migration issues in the past and don’t want to go through it again should they acquire a new PACS. However, what some providers get when they order a VNA is quite different from what they expected.
Here are a few expectations you should have of a TRUE VNA solution:
- Must support inclusive DICOM query/retrieve specification
- Should store all objects in a non-proprietary fashion
- All data must be understood by the community (DICOM part 102)
- Can handle ADT updates to files
- Offers context management
- Stores complete suite of DICOM SOP classes
If you’ve got a “VNA” that doesn’t offer the above, you’re connected to the wrong vendor.
VNA works by separating the archiving functionality from PACS. In the traditional method, the PACS vendor has to handle all the translation and has control over the customer. PACS and VNA together can give control back to the customer. Another issue involves the way vendors interpret the metadata fields for DICOM data.
DICOM itself doesn’t completely specify its metadata, which becomes an issue when trying to identify and annotate objects. Vendors will choose to interpret them differently, causing real issues when it comes to sharing images with facilities with different vendors. Fortunately, when connected to true VNA, this is not an issue.
While some would argue that the definition of VNA continues to evolve today, the best vendors are working to establish a unified rule of what VNA is and how it should handle image studies.
OffSite Image Management, Inc. works with true VNA technology, which our technicians have built up to work in the cloud. Our VNA solutions help hospitals face and defeat the challenges that you face in today’s multisite environment. We know you’re your PACS is likely being asked to do more than it can handle, and we’ve got the solutions to give you better access to images, and a better chance at improved patient care.