Digital Medical Images in the Cloud

Digital Medical Images Need a Cloud

Whether your digital medical images came from scanning X-ray film or were created using modern digital imaging technology, the Cloud can give you a great way to store, access and transfer your images.

Maintaining current and previous studies in a digital medical images Cloud enables patients and physicians to have immediate access to needed medical images, often eliminating the need for duplicate tests.  This means   lower radiation exposure and reduced costs.  Cloud sharing is the fastest, most efficient way to transfer images, not only saving time, but preventing images from getting lost or misplaced.  The Cloud ensures that the images are available where they need to be and when they need to be.

Using the Cloud

The Cloud is similar in concept to a utility. Through an internet connection (the equivalent of an electrical outlet), you can access whatever applications, files, or data (including large diagnostic medical images) you have opted to store in the cloud–anytime, anywhere, from any device.  So, if one physician uploads a large medical image to the cloud, another physician, in another location, can “plug in” and view the image, provided the first physician authorizes access.

In most instances, the Cloud is synonymous with the Internet. However, medical images sent via an image sharing Cloud require a zero footprint viewing solution that enables “view without download” in order to harness the speed and power of the Cloud.  Other considerations that are equally important include patient privacy concerns, security of transmission and redundancy of storage and back-up systems once the image is in the Cloud.

In most cases, cloud image sharing solutions resemble a PAC, with the Cloud platform providing virtual transmission systems that allow a health care facility to both receive outside images and send their images to other providers.  Cloud image sharing is extremely cost effective.  While a PACs can be an expensive hardware capital expense for a healthcare facility, Cloud image sharing doesn’t require an upfront monetary investment.  Cloud image sharing systems are subscription based – you pay for what you use when you use it.

Cloud image sharing systems are scalable – you can increase your storage and sharing capabilities or decrease at will.   A Cloud image sharing system is an excellent solution for a group of hospitals or clinics that don’t want the expense of to owning and maintaining a lot of hardware.  Another benefit of Cloud-image sharing is the issue of automatic upgrades.  A SaaS/Cloud always operates on the most current version, while hardware systems get outdated by newer technology and need to be replaced on a regular basis.

Sharing Outside Your Cloud Network

Sharing images is a no-brainer for hospitals or clinics that are part of the same cloud network, and it’s not much different for healthcare organizations that are outside the Cloud.  Because of the security set-ups within a Cloud system, all it takes is confirmation of the identity of the outside provider via protected password, and a private link the enables the outside provider to log into the cloud and see the study that he is authorized to see.

Using the Cloud with your PACS

Most hospitals have PACs and they’re not likely to go away anytime soon, but a Cloud image sharing solution can help your organization free up PACs storage space.  Instead of downloading the image into your PACs, you can read the image within the Cloud sharing platform and delete it when you no longer need it.  As you use the Cloud solution more and more, it will become the archive of images that are shared between providers.

Learn More About Cloud Solutions for Digital Medical Images