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, regardless of where they originated, are accessible in one silo.
To bring this new view into reality, healthcare providers are relying heavily on vendor neutral archiving (VNA). This also involves using plug-ins that can be integrated with the VNA so that there is no single owner of the image data and everyone who needs to see it can have access. In many cases, the VNA is controlled by the PACS software, which is being referred to by many people as PACS 3.0.
You’ve probably already heard of the myths surrounding PACS – that proprietary is good or that vendor control of the data is preferable. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ll understand why proprietary method, which puts you in a paternal role, can limit you when it comes to sharing with other facilities.
There are problems with current-generation PACS in that most of these systems are built with technology that is long since been surpassed by better, newer technology. These old PACS simply can’t keep up with what providers are asking of them. In many cases, the PACS solution can’t be set up with a backup system that allows a provider to stay in compliance or have continuous access to medical records. Disaster recovery is something every provider, regardless of how small they are, should have as part of their PACS solution.
In the traditional sense, disaster recovery isn’t the same as business continuity. When done right, a vendor should have a disaster recovery solution should come with other PACS database and image management tools, which can actually give clients the luxury of having business continuity built into their solution. However, there are surprisingly few vendors that have figured out how to offer such robust and advanced solutions.
With the DICOM standard, PACS is able to do what it needs to do. But, we also know that not everything that occurs in the healthcare facility is natively DICOM, which means providers need to have a solution on hand that is able to read, archive and share non-DICOM information. For instance, HL7 information also needs to be archived. Many IT professionals in the healthcare industry are focused on DICOM storage when they should be thinking about HL7 data as well. Again, there are vendors who are capable of offering archiving services for both DICOM and HL7.
When it comes to the incompatibility, disaster recovery and business continuity issues, OffSite Image Management, Inc., has had experience with them all and has engineered a solution that is forward-thinking and brings great value to providers. We’re providing solutions that others haven’t figured out how to address, and we’re offering these solutions at a fair price. Contact us today and find out how we’re able to help even the most cash-strapped facilities with quality solutions.