What VNA Does for Medical Imaging
Vendor neutral archiving: it’s a part of conversation for just about every IT professional in
healthcare. VNA, as it’s more widely known, has emerged among cloud computing as a go-to solution for improving the way providers handle medical imaging. Has your facility realized the benefits of using VNA?
Today, there is a large number of file types of medical imaging, which can cause a major complication for providers. There is not only the different types of files to contend with, there is also the increasing volume of data that has to be addressed. Can VNA really be the answer to these issues?
Unfortunately, not everybody is operating under the same definition of VNA, which has spurred the best vendors to claim their solutions are “true” VNA. The following is what true VNA can offer the critical access hospital:
- The ability to store the complete suite of DICOM SOP classes
- Can store all objects in a non-proprietary format, which means it can be pulled up on any viewer
- Will support inclusive DICOM queries
- Will offer context management, or the ability to work with DICOM tags
- Can handle ADT updates to images stored in the archive
- Will support a number of infrastructure solutions that can deal promptly and efficiently with hardware upgrades
- Interfaces with clinical information systems that can communicate HL7 data, reports, workflow and results
Just because critical access hospitals serve a far smaller number of patients than medical centers in major metropolitan areas doesn’t mean the technology they need differs. That is why it is crucial for a critical access hospital to be connected with the right vendor. With the right vendor, they can get all the advantages offered by VNA through cloud computing.
Four years ago, BridgeHead Software reported in a study that a third of hospitals in America had adopted VNA. It was estimated that by 2014, another 20 percent would be on board with VNA. The numbers have certainly been keeping up with predictions, and more and more critical access hospitals are jumping to the solution to cash in on the savings and improvement in healthcare related to medical imaging.
So what’s so great about VNA? Simply put, VNA is the tool that helps to separate out the archival processes from the PACS being used. Most organizations will upgrade or replace their PACS over time, so having VNA in the toolkit minimizes the need for migration between the old and new system. This is important because most PACS vendors have to handle the transfer of data, which means the provider is essentially held hostage by the PACS vendor, which could mean hefty fees.
While the cost of hardware related to medical image management continues to climb, critical access hospitals are turning to cloud-based solutions that help manage images offsite. OffSite Image Management, Inc. offers 360-degree solutions that cater to the rural provider, most of whom fall into the critical access category. Contact us today and find out how we can improve your situation.