Size Does Matter: How Rural Hospitals Benefit From Cloud PACS.

More than ever, healthcare facilities, including rural hospitals, are utilizing the strengths of cloud PACS to deliver better healthcare services.

Nearly every provider has made the leap to electronic health records systems or is in the process of doing so because it’s federally mandated. For hospitals that kept storage vaults for their medical imaging, those vaults are now virtual and housed in cloud PACS. Approximately 30 percent more hospitals take the leap into cloud storage recently, according to a survey by CIO.com. Another study by Accenture shows that 15 percent of all providers in the U.S. are using cloud-based storage for their images.

The question you might have as a rural provider is “how can my facility get the same quality cloud PACS services that big hospitals are able to afford?” There is a vendor working almost exclusively with rural facilities to offer them affordable yet quality care, but more about that later.

Your patients’ needs are no different from those in urban settings. You’re doing everything within your limited resources to ensure that they actually get that quality care. However, despite the conveniences offered by the latest electronic health care systems, rural facilities still struggle with costs associated with them as well as the workforce to implement and maintain the systems.

You’re not only fighting limited resources, you’re also facing an uphill battle in trying to comply with regulatory requirements and effective DR/BC processes. You experience a lot more stress than your urban counterparts, especially considering the size of your facility. You are getting a much higher percentage of patients relying on Medicare due to the advanced age of the rural population. Why the stress? Because failing to comply with the federal mandates means you’ll lose some of your Medicare benefits, and you surely can’t afford that. Besides, you’re already seeing fewer government payments than the urban hospitals, which means you are strapped for resources for capital expenses.

While your patients’ needs might be the same, your cloud solution should be built differently than the urban healthcare providers. This doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality to maintain costs. Your cloud PACS solution should allow you management access, storage benefits and all the security that the big facilities get. Your information should be stored in the safest data centers that not only protect all your valuable patient information, but also make it available to you when you need it, where you need it.

The PACS solution you choose should be available to you for years to come. Your provider should work closely with you to help you work through your disaster recovery plans and keep you up and running regardless of how dire the disaster. If you desire an on-site solution, that too should be available to you.

OffSite Image Management, Inc., not only focuses on providing the most secure and available cloud PACS service on the market today, but we also cater directly to rural hospitals that are short on resources yet have the same needs as everyone else.