When it comes to medical imaging, radiology is what most often comes to mind, and for good reason. A large percentage of medical imaging created by most hospitals tends to come from the radiology department. In fact, radiology often forms the foundation of diagnostics and treatment for hundreds of other departments including cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, oncology, and even dermatology. In the U.S. alone, the entire medical imaging market generates an estimated $100 billion in annual revenue with radiology practices and imaging centers accounting for about a quarter of that amount.
Given that radiology is such a crucial tool for medical professionals, it makes sense that the images should be stored in an interoperable format, and easily accessible across departments. But that often isn’t the case. In most cases, medical images and scans are placed into an electronic medical record (EMR) as a link. This link leads to a different folder where the generated image is stored. Without access to a given EMR, it becomes impossible for different doctors to view diagnostic scans and other data relating to the patient’s condition.
Silos like these are a critical stumbling block for hospital IT infrastructure interoperability. The fragmented nature of medical image storage and access makes it much harder for healthcare providers to access patient data and lowers the probability of positive healthcare outcomes.
To overcome the siloed approach and streamline the process, organizations must re-evaluate their enterprise imaging strategies. This includes assessing the adequacy of their IT infrastructure to handle large volumes of medical image data and considering the potential benefits of transitioning to a cloud-based environment in an effort to improve accessibility and break down data silos.
Why the Cloud?
Medical images hold a wealth of data that can be quickly and effectively analyzed by machine-learning and AI technologies, in pursuit of better patient outcomes and to make preventative care more effective. But making the leap to AI-powered image analysis means putting the right IT infrastructure in place, including cloud-based storage and accessibility tools.
As healthcare imaging technologies advance, it’s likely that healthcare centers will produce a rising volume of images. Unlike on-premise storage, the cloud makes it much easier to scale storage capacity to meet this demand.
- Cloud partners will usually offer flexible pricing that corresponds to client usage patterns and in turn, reduces spend on hardware and storage software.
- Because cloud storage can be accessed from nearly anywhere in the world, it helps healthcare partners collaborate more easily and effectively, and improves medical decision-making, especially when multiple providers are involved.
However, any move to the cloud must be backed with a well-defined imaging storage and retrieval strategy. As a first step, learn how your images will be migrated, stored, and retrieved by the cloud provider and how they will connect to your IT systems.
Different cloud providers may have different migration processes and the smart healthcare executive will want to understand which technology stack and processes work most efficiently and cost-effectively with their existing infrastructure. It’s also worth understanding what kinds of data management tools and platforms your cloud providers have on offer, and what their data duplication and standardization protocols are. For the most part, it’s a better bet to work with cloud partners who have extensive experience working with complex data management scenarios and can manage the intersection of imaging data, pattern analysis, and cloud services.
Diagnostic discovery
The growing shift to precision medicine, where treatments are tailored to a patient's specific genetic makeup, lifestyle factors, and past medical problems will necessitate improved medical imaging storage and accessibility systems. Precision medicine is often very dependent on imaging to provide diagnostic data, track disease progression, biomarker identification, and surgical planning.
A cloud-based approach to storing medical data means that physicians across multiple healthcare centers can access a unified view of a given patient’s condition. This naturally improves diagnostic and treatment capabilities, especially when multiple clinical specialties are involved. By providing clinicians with immediate and secure access to cloud-stored images and data, healthcare providers make workflows more efficient, save the time spent caring for each caseload, and improve the overall quality of care delivery.
Laying the foundation
Before actually buying a cloud storage package, it’s important to take a step back and assess what you need the technology to accomplish. How can you showcase direct improvement in patient outcomes as a result of your IT investments? Will it make work easier for providers while improving patient lives? How much will it cost?
When creating a roadmap for implementation consider how long it will take for new systems to be integrated, and how long before they start delivering measurable value. A transparent cloud system provider will be able to quickly analyze your needs and share this data with your organization upfront, well before any purchases have been made.
A point in favor of cloud-based imaging management is the growing number of physicians who embrace technology as a core part of the healthcare arsenal. Organizations that invest in quality tools -- ones that help clinicians work better and faster -- will likely gain the most in terms of attracting medical talent and improved patient experiences.
Another compelling reason to move to the cloud is the potential improvements to healthcare R&D and innovation. Making hundreds of petabytes of data accessible without compromising patient privacy and security means radically improving the pace of research and the velocity of medical breakthroughs. Healthcare organizations that successfully make the shift will be positioned to unlock the full potential of their data while contributing to improved patient outcomes and reduced physician burnout.
Dhaval Shah is an executive vice president and market head for MedTech at CitiusTech.
The comments and observations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AuntMinnie.com.
