Let PACS and VNA Combine to Give You Better Outcomes
The value that PACS has had throughout the medical community is great. The advent of this technology 20 years ago helped phase out the decades-long process that involved expensive and inefficient film processes. However, PACS today is not enough on its own. PACS and VNA is a new trend that is helping to provide better patient care across the country.
Vendor neutral archive, or VNA, has made a name for itself because of its ability to manage, store and acquire the medical images that are so important to many departments throughout the healthcare facility. Furthermore, VNA is becoming as valuable an asset for facility-to-facility transmission of medical images.
According to a report from outlining the global forecast to 2018, the PACS and VNA market will reach $335 million by 2018 globally. PACS by itself is a multi-billion dollar industry. However, given the roadblocks that come into play with proprietary solutions, it makes sense that VNA is becoming more of a player in the PACS field.
Experts in the medical imaging industry see the VNA market as segmented via its mode of delivery, its deployment model and who the vendor is. Most providers are going with an on-premise solution at the moment, but there is every indication that more and more providers are looking to or are moving to a cloud-based solution. This is of particular interest to rural healthcare providers who don’t have the budgets for an expensive on-site solution. Another issue these rural facilities face is the fact that they don’t have the personnel available to keep the hardware and software up and running, which is another reason for them to choose an offsite vendor, working in the cloud.
There is also a hybrid version of PACS and VNA solutions out there whereby the facility maintains its legacy PACS system, but brings in a third part to archive and share images so that other departments and other facilities can have access to the important data.
The U.S. isn’t the only country working to stay current with the expectations of patients today. China, Japan, Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries are seeing healthcare reforms change their IT policies, and going with a PACS and VNA solution is one of the ways they’re addressing those issues.
There is much competition out there among vendors, but just make sure your group of finalists all offer true VNA solutions. There is some disagreement in the industry about what exactly the definition of VNA actually is.
At OffSite Image Management, Inc., we are helping define what true VNA is. Our belief is that storing images offsite in top-notch data centers is the best way to get access with the most robust disaster recovery solutions available today. We’re connecting providers of all sizes with these solutions that marry PACS and VNA together to give the healthcare community a better chance at offering the best patient care possible. Contact us today and we’ll discuss your PACS issues and come up with a solution together.