DICOM Storage and VNA: What to Know About Storage as a Service
The Changing Landscape of DICOM Storage PACS was a game changer when it first emerged in the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, many PACS are limited in their ability to provide the type of DICOM storage and access to images that providers need today. Essentially, the properties the industry sees in vendor neutral archiving (VNA) solutions is […]
What Can we Learn About PACS From a NYC Example?
PACS Exchanges Could Shore-Up Inefficiencies There are often telling reminders of how badly things can go in a healthcare facility when information fails to flow properly from one PACS to another. An example of this comes from a university medical center in New York where the senior manager of information management presented the story of […]
Health Image Exchange: How Much Does Repeated Imaging Cost Your Hospital?
If you’ve been putting off involvement in a health image exchange (HIE), consider a recent study that shows how using an HIE can drastically cut back on the number of imaging tests that have be redone. Obviously, imaging tests are expensive. Unfortunately, due to constraints in how images are shared, patients often are burdened with […]
A Brief History of PACS (a.k.a. Solving Vendor-Controlled Imaging Problems)
Most radiologists would probably have no problem agreeing that the main issue PACS was built for was to tackle archiving. These same radiologists would probably agree that they are asking their PACS to do more than just archive today. With Meaningful Use requirements approaching phase III and electronic health records becoming not only the norm, […]
VNA Based PACS: At the Heart of Enterprise Imaging?
There has been a lot of talk lately about “deconstructing” PACS. What is driving this conversation is the fact that healthcare organizations are taking a different approach to the typical departmental view of medical images. Instead of seeing these images as being compartmentalized, the focus is to centralize the information so that all medical images, […]
Health Image Exchange: How Should Ideal DICOM Exchange Work?
DICOM, the digital imaging and communications in medicine standard, has done its part in unifying many workflow issues within organizations. For one, it has linked radiology modalities and PACS systems. However, has DICOM done enough to assist healthcare providers? Some would argue that it hasn’t. Take this real-life example: a patient goes in for a […]
How DICOM Exchange and VNA Work Together
How are you sharing your medical images today? For a good number of facilities, patients are sent away with a CD with their images burned onto them, which they’ll take to their other doctors for their consideration. Or, the CDs are mailed off to doctors that need to see them. A more efficient method of […]
Just What is Vendor Neutral Archiving? A Review
When vendor neutral archiving hit the scene several years ago, it was all the rage. Unfortunately, the interpretation of vendor neutral archiving was a bit loose, which prompted some products that weren’t quite what people were expecting when they received them. So, what exactly is true vendor neutral archiving (VNA) and how does it help […]
Why DICOM Image Exchange for Best Image Sharing?
If you’re involved with medical imaging, you are probably well aware of Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM), the network protocol that has been used for years to transmit images and waveforms. What you might not have known is that the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the American College of Radiology developed DICOM […]
What’s so Great About a Virtual CD?
Anyone who has spent a decade or more in the healthcare industry can attest to the changes that occur in technology. Within the radiology industry, a big change occurred when compact disc technology hit the scene. Instead of sharing images on film, radiologists could supply doctors with images burned onto CDs. CDs are extremely portable, […]