Health IT NEWS.Direct!
July - September 2012
these studies and images need be managed and organized. As
leave his or her office, walk or drive over to the lab or office where
data warehouses grow and grow, additional staffing and training
the image is located, and view it there. In all these cases, time to
within hospitals and health networks are required, just to keep
treatment is delayed significantly.
track of everything and problem-solve. This type of training is not a one-time expense, but rather an ongoing cost to stay on top of
Duplicate scans
system updates. Hardware must be purchased and maintained. Continued investment is needed for basics such as memory,
Finally, duplicative scans and tests are an increasing cost issue.
speed and updated operating systems, to name but a few. Finally,
Annual healthcare costs of as much as $100 billion have been
healthcare data may be managed on private networks that are
attributed to diagnostic imaging tests. Of these, an estimated
often times inaccessible from other platforms.
35% are of duplicates. This is the equivalent of $35 billion in unnecessary costs. Time and money can be spent just on locating
Then, there are basic housekeeping issues, such as reports
a crucial image, as opposed to simply going to a cloud-based
and worksheets, which have to be filled out manually for each
solution where images are stored securely and in one place.
patient. In many settings, a provider has to make the effort to match up a specific report with a specific image on CD, or even
For example, a patient may go in for a procedure and need
video cassette. The paperwork can pile up fast. A provider may
imaging work done. A radiologist, instead of being able to access
have his or her own style for dictating reports, so uniformity can
a single HIE for this patient’s complete set of images, may be
also become a real issue. Finally, the increasing amount of paper
forced instead to play detective and hunt down these images,
archives in addition to data warehousing can create storage and
which may be stored in a variety of different formats in several
management problems. The likelihood of misfiled or misplaced
different places. It’s easier just to order a new scan, but this is
reports can grow, which may require further staff to manage and
exactly how costs absolutely add up over time.
organize the growing reams of paper. In fact, it is estimated that a single-clinician practice spends, on Through our daily dealings with providers and other customers,
average, about $17,000 a year associated with traditional methods
it has become clear to us that the current system is becoming
of exchanging patients’ health information.
more and more unwieldy and does not serve the best interest of patients. Just the cost of servers to house all these data can easily
The cloud: A game-changer
balloon to an unsustainable level.
In a cloud-based storage system, images are securely stored in
Image sharing
multiple locations. They are accessible anytime and anywhere, via
The simple task of image sharing in a timely manner has
grow, providers and managers can simply add capacity to the cloud
become a real issue of cost and efficiencies within healthcare
as opposed to adding onsite storage hardware, management, and
delivery. The most glaring example is the CD. Even in today’s
bandwidth. That way, managers are only paying for the capacity
technologically advanced world, patients continue to bring any
they actually need. In a cloud-based infrastructure, images and
vital images corresponding with their care to the hospital on a
data remain secure and meet all regulatory requirements.
a standard web-based browser. As health systems’ storage needs
CD, which may cause frustration among in-house specialists and referring physicians if they are ever lost or damaged while being
Furthermore, physicians and specialists can also share images
transported from one place to another. There are times when a
worldwide through the cloud, and in many cases, such a service
CD is unreadable, which may cause a delay in care. In many
is free. Image sharing offers an easy-to-use and efficient means
cases, providers and specialists still rely on the video cassette
of quick image sharing, which result in faster diagnoses and
and corresponding players to view critical images.
treatment for patients. Efficiencies are greatly increased.
A provider may be unable to share an image quickly with a
Examples of efficiency
colleague or specialist due to incompatible viewing systems, resulting in a loss of efficiencies. If several providers need to
A cloud-based system can also marry reports to images and keep
view the same image and exchange critical information relating
them all in one place, which can solve many filing and storage
to care for that patient, such a process can take days or even
issues. Once these images are on the cloud, it can be viewed
weeks, because they are unable to view images simultaneously
by everyone and does not necessitate the need to burn them on
from different locations. They cannot share images over a mobile
a CD. This would be important if a patient changes his or her
device. If a provider needs to view an image, and that image is only
physician. When a patient goes to a provider for follow-up, he or
stored on a CD in a single place, then he or she needs to physically
she can pull out these images quickly, instead of having to rely on
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