Jan 5
2024
Medical Imaging Needs More Speedy, Stable, and Secure Data Infrastructure to Produce Life-Saving Insights
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are making waves across industries. But in healthcare, we frequently find ourselves fighting against being left behind when it comes to new technology adoption. While the field inherently necessitates more caution when implementing emerging technologies into workflows that impact patient outcomes and human lives, AI is proving to be beneficial in offloading administrative, repetitive, and easily manageable tasks from an overburdened healthcare workforce.
When it comes to medical imaging, AI applications are accelerating time to diagnoses and improving accuracy by going much further than any human can. AI-driven insights and machine learning capabilities are able to mine hundreds of body scans in a matter of minutes for differences that the human eye can miss. With these new applications of AI in medical imaging, there is the potential for hospitals and health systems to detect problems earlier, track patients through their care journey more accurately, and offer more lifesaving treatment to patients at the time they need it.
The storage and retrieval of digital images is an integral component of any digital imaging system. A picture archiving and communication system (PACS) turns data into actionable insights by displaying, storing, and retrieving important imaging data used for the diagnosis and treatment of complex conditions. A PACS can also ensure long-term data retention and reduce physical storage needs, offering substantial cost savings, when they are running on the right system and platform that optimizes performance.
This means that seamless digital imaging processing systems are paramount to patient and provider success. When running on a platform or service that might slow down a PACS, providers are losing valuable time and patient outcomes may be impacted. Health systems are then left scrambling for something better, which in this case can mean the difference between life and death for patients with complex conditions.
The Golden Hour of Critical Care Is Impacted by Slow Operating Systems
Founded in 1907, Adventist Healthcare is one of the longest-serving healthcare systems in Maryland and delivers comprehensive care at over 50 locations across the Washington D.C. area. Adventist Healthcare delivers high-quality care across specialties but is primarily known for its expertise in cardiology, maternity, orthopedics, and mental health.
Like most health systems, we at Adventist have been trying to keep pace with the digitization of our industry and the fast-paced adoption of emerging tech, while remaining stable and scalable to meet organizational goals and patient needs. We were facing challenges that were delaying diagnoses, adding to physician workloads, and leaving patient information not as secure as it could be. Our life-saving services, including acute-care hospitals, primary care and imaging centers, home health services and more, could not be left up to chance– so we looked at strategic tech investments and partnerships to advance our operations and ensure that we are meeting the needs of patients and providers across the Maryland and D.C. region.
In an environment where every second matters, the underlying technology supporting critical healthcare systems must keep pace with growth. Our PACS and the storage needed to keep it operational and insightful directly influence our ability to save lives. For instance, when it comes to heart attack and stroke diagnoses and recovery, the ability to pull up prior patient images to make quick comparisons within the “golden hour” of an episode greatly increases the chance of patient recovery. When the storage behind our PACS began to experience performance issues, we had to look for solutions to leverage in order to gain speed, stability, and security, while cutting costs and complexity from our current data storage infrastructure to allow for better operations and room for business growth.