A Vendor Neutral Archive Solution Can Prepare You for the Future
It’s not enough to just store your medical data, including images, in a safe environment anymore. It
must now be stored digitally in an expandable and accessible format so that clinicians can gain access to them on the go. It is also no longer adequate to only have access to images while sitting at a proprietary viewer – even mobile access is now becoming the norm. Thanks to vendor neutral archive technology, this is becoming a reality.
Clinicians want to be able to gain straightforward access to their patients’ information wherever they go, regardless of whether it’s to another department in their facility or to a disparate facility. Vendor neutral archive technology gives them that kind of access so they can be prepared, flexible and nimble.
The best solutions offer innovative services that can really improve productivity. For example, clinicians with vendor neutral archive solutions are prepared for any unforeseen circumstances that would otherwise be hidden. They are able to adapt to a variety of specialties that require many different image types, reports and files. VNA is also a great tool for a hybrid solution where clinicians are working with cloud-based archives as well as local, on-site servers.
For organizations looking for cross-enterprise collaboration, the very nature of VNA makes that possible as most disparate organizations have radiology equipment from different vendors, many of which are not vendor neutral. VNA is a work-around that takes the proprietary hardware and software out of the equation.
Technological changes can turn quickly, which means it’s easy to be left behind, especially when some of the technology is cost prohibitive. However, VNA solutions are preparing the healthcare industry for the future as they give providers the ability to recognize their needs while accessing images from a single point. This goes far in making complex electronic medical record management easier.
When hospitals of any size face challenges adopting an imaging data center in a multisite environment, it’s often the vendor’s willingness and capability to help that stands in the way. However, there is also a big difference between a central PACS archive that takes images from a vendor’s PACS (perhaps multiple PACS) and a true VNA solution. If a hospital is getting its images from a central archive, what happens in the future when the PACS are replaced with that of a different vendor? This is where VNA can step in and offer a solution to the problem.
The goal is to find a vendor that offers true VNA solutions. However, not every vendor is operating under the same definition of VNA. True VNA will operate in a non-proprietary format and understand DICOM part 102, supporting inclusive DICOM query/retrieve specification.
When you partner with OffSite Image Management, Inc., you’re partnering with an organization that is an industry leader in providing cloud-based VNA imaging services that provide the flexibility, preparedness and nimbleness that will have you ready to tackle the demands of the future.