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Having medical imaging available during an operation is paramount to ensuring a positive outcome for the patient. The images stored on a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) can guide surgeons through their procedures, helping them to locate and address an issue in an organ or joint quickly and with ease.

In fact, many doctors cannot or will not perform surgery without their medical imaging studies, so access must be efficient and reliable.

A cloud-based picture archiving and communication system (PACS) should integrate with a radiology information system (RIS). When the two systems are integrated, radiologists can work more efficiently because they will always have the patient information they need at their fingertips.

Unfortunately, not all cloud PACS play nicely with RIS, from an integration standpoint, which means you need to be careful when deciding on a solution.

When choosing a cloud PACS for your practice, any option you consider should offer the following RIS integrations to ensure smooth workflows and high productivity within your practice.

Many medical professionals, including radiologists and surgeons, rely heavily upon medical imaging resources. That's because, as part of their role, they need a way to access images for diagnosis, archive these images within a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and share them with patients, as well as other medical professionals.

While this functionality is essential for providing quality care, what many practices often don't realize are the time and costs associated with maintaining an onsite PACS as their facility's data grows. With increased data comes an increased need for additional hardware, security protocols, IT staff salaries and expenses on utilities, including electric and cooling to ensure the hardware continues to operate smoothly.

For a practice owner, as these costs start to build, and responsibilities for managing hardware become a more costly and time-intensive task, you might be asking yourself, "How did my medical practice morph into a data center?"

With so many picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) on the market, it can be difficult to know which one is best for your veterinary practice. Despite the diverse range of options available, many small practices simply use the rudimentary veterinary PACS offered by their practice management software (PMS) vendor.

If you don’t have a well-defined disaster recovery plan in place, consider this an intervention! Now is the time to put one in place. A picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) disaster recovery plan secures the sustainability of your practice, as well as your ability to provide care to your patients.

On the other hand, if you already have a documented plan, you should take the time to confirm it covers all the most critical aspects of recovery. (Many organizations often address one aspect of disaster recovery, such as backing up their data, but rarely do they have the necessary comprehensive plan in place for recovering quickly from a disaster.)