Managing the massive amounts of information associated with providing healthcare is a
constant battle, especially as the amount of data associated with imaging seems to compound every year. Centralized image storage is becoming a popular topic as healthcare providers look into more efficient processes.
The information associated with medical imaging needs to flow seamlessly, but it’s a problem that many healthcare organizations struggle with on a daily basis. There are several areas from which the problem derives; first off, the way that most practices manage their health information doesn’t provide any flexibility in scale. Secondly you have to consider that providers are generating their share of data through their electronic health records, patients are generating their own device and genetic data, and telemetry and imaging data is certainly growing quite large.
To make matters more difficult, government regulations regarding meaningful use practices are quite burdensome. The massive amounts of data are a good thing if the healthcare provider can effectively manage it and learn from it. What’s clear now is that to offer quality care, centralized image storage approaches will be of upmost importance to many if not all healthcare providers.
What healthcare providers need to consider is what their data sources actually are. Imaging certainly accounts for some of the larger files to be managed. The important thing to remember about medical images is that it rarely does anybody any use in a silo – it needs to be stored in a place that can be accessible to as many qualified people as needed. Not all data should be treated the same way, and medical imaging is definitely a data source that needs special consideration.
The problem that many facilities have with their medical imaging is that they’re still tied to burning their data onto CDs and mailing them off to the medical professionals who need to see it. This is not only costly, but an unsecure method that is inefficient in providing the quality care that every facility wants to offer.
By having a centralized image storage setup in place, the images are never lost. They’re always available to the professionals who need to see them, from the cloud. As long as there is a workstation with a monitor and access to a secure network, the images are available for them to view or download. The easy access to patient data helps medical professionals determine the next course of action for the patient in a quick, easy and secure manner.
When it comes to offering excellent access to medical imaging and a disaster recovery solution on top of that, OffSite Image Management, Inc., has created a perfect scenario. With vendor neutral archiving, off site data storage, PACS, a health information exchange platform and virtual CD technology offered through the cloud, OffSite has the solutions that medical professionals need. OffSite utilizes Level IV data centers for the ultimate solution in cloud security.