Vendor Neutral Archiving: More Than Just A Place To Store Images

By Larry Sitka, Principal Solution Architect, Perceptive Software

If you’re a clinician practicing in today’s complex healthcare system, you are more likely than not suffering from blind spots because images from departmental ‘ologies are locked in proprietary imaging systems and aren’t accessible from the electronic medical record (EMR).

Radiology took the lead in digitally managing images, data and workflow. Cardiology is catching up, but the other ‘ologies like oncology, pathology, dermatology, ophthalmology and endoscopy lack the same level of sophistication. Best case, images and other patient information from these departments are stored in departmental systems. Worse case, patient information is stored on paper, hard drives, CDs or USBs creating serious security and patient privacy risks.

Within each ‘ology, diagnostic technology advancements constantly create new modalities and file types that need to be managed, so it is understandable that information silos have popped up across the organization. However, with the increasing adoption of EMRs due to meaningful use initiatives it is no longer acceptable to have valuable patient information stuck in silos under vendor lock and key.

Download the full paper below to learn more.