How CD Technology is Taking a Back Seat to Offsite Solutions

CDThe healthcare community might have been slow, and perhaps appropriately, to taking to the cloud for imaging solutions, but the migration to offsite solutions has certainly begun. A great example of why this is happening is evident in the University of Rochester Medical Center’s decision to step away from CD technology.

Roughly four years ago, the university’s team involved with diagnostic images had finally had enough of the CD technology they used to store and share images. The CD burning technology process resembled an assembly line way of dealing with images. Some of the discs would burn improperly, causing glitches that were only discovered when another provider tried to view the images on it. They also had to deal with the HIPAA issues surrounding lost CDs.

What Rochester encountered is no different from what other providers experience on a daily basis with their now-antiquated CD burning stations. To combat this, cloud-based solutions are stepping up to offer offsite storage and sharing capabilities.

Providers today demand technically superior image management capabilities that not only allow them unfettered access to their images, but also a way to share the images with patients and other providers as needed. There is no better solution than what can be found by the top vendors offering cloud-based technology that gives them nearly 100 percent uptime.

Rochester found that their cloud solution was so easy to use that it became one of the biggest selling points. Immediately upon implementation, the cloud solution was manageable by everyone who works with diagnostic imaging. They didn’t have to publish their images to enterprise PACS before sharing them, and only minor software installations were required to allow CD uploading.

Physicians at Rochester were immediately smitten with the amount of time they saved by using the new solutions. Instead of taking 45 minutes to send images, the new technology allowed them to do it in five minutes or less. It’s important to note that this change affected more than just the radiology department. Any department requiring access to images saw improvements from adopting the new solution.

While Rochester is a larger medical center, the cloud solutions they use are also having a great impact on rural providers. The smaller clinics and hospitals suffer from a lack of resources, both financial and in terms of human resources. They need the same technology, and fortunately, there are vendors out there ready to serve them with solutions that don’t break the bank, yet are just as robust as what is used by major providers in populated areas.

OffSite Image Management, Inc., is a company built by radiology specialists who came up in rural communities working for critical care facilities. Our solutions are cloud based and offer unmatched archiving and sharing capabilities. We utilize Level IV datacenters that protect your data and give you near 100 percent uptime capabilities. Contact us today and let’s discuss your diagnostic imaging needs.