Protecting Growing Volumes Of Medical Images

Edward Santangelo, Senior Vice President, Healthcare Consulting, Iron Mountain

Diagnostic imaging is on the rise. A recent estimate from Frost & Sullivan predicts imaging in the United States will increase to well over one billion annual procedures by 2014. This growth, coupled with the expanding size of images, challenges hospitals and imaging centers to control storage costs and comply with disaster recovery and data storage guidelines, like those required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The result is a need for a highly scalable, low cost and secure option for hospitals.

In today's fast-changing environment, healthcare professionals cannot afford to overlook the expertise, speed-to-market and cost benefits that outsourcing can deliver. Outsourcing not only helps healthcare professionals create business value, but it also provides them with valuable insights into their data management, protection and storage policies – or lack thereof.

Transitioning To A Filmless Environment
As healthcare providers adopt Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), they must integrate historical film libraries with digital images and simultaneously adjust clinical workflows. The integration creates a challenge for physicians when they need compare current digital patient images with prior analog films, slowing productivity and patient throughput. By outsourcing, however, healthcare organizations can streamline their workflow with remote image digitizing thus freeing up this on-site space occupied by analog films and servers for clinical activities.

What's more, the right partner can help those straddling film and digital images make the transition to an all digital environment. For example, doctors and other care providers can scan films on an as-needed basis through a process known as "back-file" scanning. These scans can then be easily uploaded to a digital-image archive or PACS system.