New Archiving Software Gives Clinicians Centralized Access To Data From Disparate PACS Systems
BridgeHead Software recently announced the latest version of PACStore, a long term archiving solution that consolidates data from disparate PACS systems, enabling it to be centrally managed and accessed while providing powerful federated search facilities. PACStore improves clinician access to imaging data, enhances business continuity and reduces the IT storage and management burden of retaining imaging data over the long term.
By incorporating a fully featured industry standard Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) storage class server and Health Level Seven (HL7) interface, PACStore software fully integrates into existing healthcare IT infrastructures. It creates a central repository for imaging data with a single point of access. Data in the repository is automatically repositioned between different IT storage tiers during its lifetime to minimize storage costs. And because multiple copies of the data can be maintained in multiple geographic locations, the system improves business continuity and allows web based access to DICOM images even when primary PACS systems are unavailable.
Commenting on the new product, Noemi Greyzdorf, Senior Storage Analyst, IDC, said: "PACS users face three major problems: great inefficiency in terms of accessing data from disparate PACS systems, lack of investment protection when changing PACS providers and the need to invest into secondary systems for disaster recovery planning. BridgeHead understood these issues and has developed its PACStore solution to provide a DICOM store, allowing images created from different medical imaging systems to be centrally managed and accessed. This offers a unique value proposition to healthcare organizations investing in PACS."
PACStore's DICOM Storage Server is at the heart of the new software. DICOM is a medical imaging industry standard, so any modality or PACS that can transmit DICOM can send data to PACStore. Additionally, clinical workstations can access data from PACStore via the DICOM protocol.
"Radiologists and clinicians can easily search for images regardless of their source," said Charles Mallio, Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Marketing at BridgeHead Software. "DICOM data transmitted to PACStore is indexed and secured in a centralized repository, which can be searched from a convenient web interface. This does away with the need to perform multiple searches across disparate PACS; it offers convenience and time-savings to users."
The product's support of the HL7 messaging interface, the standard for electronic health information exchange, enables the PACStore repository to be automatically updated with changes to patient data on the hospitals' Health Care Information System / Radiology Information System (HCIS/RIS), as Mallio explained:
"For example, if Miss Smith has an X-ray and some months later she informs the hospital that she has changed her name to Mrs Jones, an HL7 update message about this event can direct PACStore to reconcile the meta-data associated with Miss Smith's archived imaging data."
While clinical users will enjoy the convenience of the centralized search facility, IT staff will appreciate the cost-savings the archive provides as Mallio was keen to emphasize: "PACStore is designed to help reduce the accelerating storage hardware costs and management burden imposed on healthcare organizations by having to retain and protect PACS medical image data over the long term. The system aggregates data from hospitals' various PACS systems and from other modalities and automatically moves this data onto the appropriate storage media based on how available it needs to be."
The most current, active image data stays on highly available, expensive primary storage, while older static data, which is viewed less frequently, is moved by PACStore to alternative, lower cost media in line with compliance and protection requirements.
"Accessibility to PACS data can be maintained over the long term even if the original PACS systems that created the data have been replaced," added Mallio. PACStore's support for the use of WORM media, encryption, authentication and crypto–shredding technologies facilitate healthcare organizations' need to protect the security and privacy of healthcare data. Data within the repository is automatically maintained in line with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
About BridgeHead Software
BridgeHead Software (www.bridgeheadsoftware.com) is a leading developer of Enterprise Data Management (EDM) software for healthcare institutions. EDM combines backup, archive and recovery capabilities in one integrated solution to optimize the backup process, reduce storage costs, improve data access and fully protect data. EDM provides seamless integration into many healthcare specialized systems and applications, including HCIS from MEDITECH, and PACS systems from multiple vendors, Microsoft applications and other storage systems. BridgeHead Software is storage and vendor agnostic, enabling EDM to tie into customers' current and future mix of storage platforms.
BridgeHead Software has strong relationships with key storage and application technology vendors, and leading systems integrators enabling it to deliver fully integrated solutions exclusively through Value Added Reseller partners. Support, training, and consulting services are extended to customers and partners through the company's operations in USA and UK.
About DICOM
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. It includes a file format definition and a network communications protocol. The communication protocol is an application protocol that uses TCP/IP to communicate between systems. DICOM files can be exchanged between two entities that are capable of receiving image and patient data in DICOM format.
SOURCE: BridgeHead Software