Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are more than just a method of storing and retrieving images and data; doctors are leveraging the technology to put together plans for their patients to offer individualized care.
PACS vendors are looking deeper into algorithms, like those established by the biggest search engines, to let healthcare professionals determine better diagnoses and treatments. Hospitals have already gotten a start on digitizing information. The HITECH Act mandates that electronic health records be established; so incorporating the data with PACS should not be a far-fetched idea.
It doesn’t really matter how big or small a healthcare organization is, they can all benefit through better image transmission. Medical practices have spent at least a few years setting up their health information exchanges, the best of which address image transmission. Every state has different rules about what can be shared, which is something PACS vendors have to take into account.
Personalized medicine is something that’s gaining ground even as the ratio of patients to doctors is widening. To boost patient care, doctors’ offices everywhere are embracing personalized medicine, which includes personalized radiology services. This includes knowing more than just the age, height, sex and weight of a person. It includes their cultural background and any number of other special things that can help the doctor provide better diagnoses and treatment options.
The American College of Radiology actually hinted at this personalized level of care in its imaging 3.0 initiatives when it proposed that radiology practices move away from a volume-based mentality to a value-based mentality.
It’s expected that radiologists will soon be taking a part in research if they haven’t already. According to a study by the European Society of Radiology, the best patient care will include acquiring genetic information and image-based information. This means that radiologists will have more information on the patient and be able to dig deeper, as a researcher would.
Experts in the medical community believe that any radiology service that fails to jump on board with the personalized care will do nothing but take the industry, which is attempting to prove its importance in the healthcare, a step backwards.
Image transmission is increasingly important, especially in rural areas where patients might not have access to the medical professionals they require. With the right technology from a vendor-neutral provider, rural radiology providers can transmit their images to just about anyone. This puts patients in the good hands of specialist practices in offices far from the patient.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., knows the importance of getting vital images to the specialists who need to see them. That’s why OffSite created Virtual CD. Any radiology practice still using their bulky and time-consuming CD burners to transfer their images to hospitals and clinics are not embracing personalized care. Virtual CD replaces the CD burning technology with an encrypted and password protected URL. The medical practitioner has the option of viewing the images in the cloud or they can download them into their PACS.