What is DICOM Storage, and How it Affects Hospitals.

DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine. The DICOM standard specifies that digital image format and file structure, as well as non-proprietary data interchange protocol and image-related information should be used.

DICOM offers very detailed engineering information that allows networks to connect to a variety of products from different vendors. Essentially, hospitals use DICOMs to store, print, transmit and handle medical imaging. Just about every healthcare organization uses digital processes to handle images and health records, and they often use different vendors to supply them with their technology that allows these digital processes. In order to share images, DICOMs were developed to allow different entities to exchange images in DICOM format, regardless of the type of hardware and software their practice implemented.

When hospitals and doctor’s offices implement a DICOM, they are integrating their servers, printers, scanner and workstations to send and receive the DICOM information, whether it’s patient records or radiology images. Even the smallest dentist and doctors offices are adopting DICOM.

The DICOM standard is actually 30 years old and has undergone several revisions. The DICOM standard was started in 1983 by individuals involved with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and the American College of Radiology. Despite these revisions, DICOM has evolved and adjusted to fit current technology, but it has the same features as when it was first developed.

The goal of the creators of the DICOM standard was to allow medical images to be shared regardless of what hardware the healthcare organization was running. These creators were actually quite forward-thinking individuals if one considers how few computer manufacturers and software vendors were around in the early 1980s. The personal computer was still in the beginning stages then.

DICOM storage systems are made today with capabilities to track data associated with images, but compressing it into a format that can be viewed by every department in a healthcare facility that has permission. DICOM storage systems are also built to share these images with specialists in other states, in some cases. This is especially valuable for rural facilities that have the technology to scan patients, but don’t have the specialists in-house to diagnose illnesses. By sending the images through their DICOM to the offices of specialists miles and miles away, the gap becomes a non-issue.

Medical professionals use DICOM to monitor patient records without ever leaving the comfort of their office, which means their ability to provide more consistent and better patient care increases. DICOM systems also allow compliance auditors more effective means of quality assurance as the system leaves a “paper trail” that can be tracked quite easily.

OffSite Image Management, Inc., specializes in serving the rural healthcare community, particularly radiological professionals. OffSite knows that the DICOM exchange of radiological data is a necessity in providing quality care. OffSite has developed a health information exchange called Honeycomb, which acts as a software layer connecting disparate digital silos. This allows organizations an added layer of security and stability.