Healthcare facilities across Europe are leading the world in the implementation of cloud services for the management and distribution of imaging exams and associated patient information. These services streamline operational efficiencies and reduce costs. Carestream is one of the world's leading providers of cloud healthcare IT infrastructures and will demonstrate enhancements to its family of CARESTREAM Vue Cloud Services at the World of Health IT Conference in Copenhagen from May 7-9 2012.
"The pace of technological change and the expense of purchasing, managing and upgrading a radiology IT infrastructure is motivating healthcare facilities worldwide to implement Carestream's cloud services," said Saskia Groeneveld, Marketing Manager, Healthcare Information Solutions, Carestream Health Europe. "Our innovative and cost-effective portfolio of cloud services deliver rapid access to patient data and images along with advanced reading and viewing tools for radiologists and clinicians at any on-site or off-site location."
Cloud Benefits Facilities of All Sizes
With cloud services images can be quickly and easily transmitted via a secure Internet connection to on-site or off-site radiologists for reading and studies can be shared with referring physicians or other clinicians at any location over a basic Internet connection.
These services are attractive for facilities of all sizes because they deliver high-performance applications on a predictable pay-per-use basis without requiring a large capital investment. Larger facilities are embracing the cloud because their IT infrastructure requires continuous maintenance, management and technology upgrades. With cloud services they can achieve a faster return on investment and an overall cost reduction of up to 30 percent. Imaging centres and mid-sized hospitals benefit from a service model that offers high-quality PACS, archiving and image sharing functionality along with expertise in data security.
Carestream's Family of Cloud Services
- CARESTREAM Vue Cloud PACS delivers full PACS functionality for image review, storage and distribution throughout the enterprise including delivering advanced reading tools to remote radiologists
- Vue Cloud Archive offers virtualised, vendor-neutral storage as well as data protection and disaster recovery of clinical data and can reduce costs by up to 30 percent
- Vue Cloud Community enables healthcare providers that use the company's archive service to allow access to that data by authorised clinicians anywhere in the world through a simple Internet connection, making it ideal for inter-hospital collaboration
Latest Enhancements
Carestream has expanded its cloud applications to include mobile imaging data access from its Vue Motion zero footprint viewer and higher levels of encryption and security through use of the Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family. Employing Intel's Xeon E7 family of processors not only boosts performance but can also deliver hardware-accelerated encryption. Higher levels of security can now be achieved whilst improving response times for users.
Also currently under development as a works-in-progress is a cloud patient portal that will allow patients to access, view and share their own medical imaging data with physicians, specialists and other healthcare facilities. This patient portal is designed to eliminate the cumbersome process of sharing patient imaging data using CDs, DVDs or radiographic film.
When available the patient portal will enable a healthcare organisation to generate a unique and secure log-in for each patient immediately after an exam. Patients will be able to manage and share imaging information with other physicians, specialists and healthcare facilities at no charge.
Carestream's cloud infrastructure currently manages over 1 billion images worldwide, supported by data centres across the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Japan. Carestream is an industry leader in the technologies, infrastructure and processes that deliver cloud services while ensuring the highest levels of data security and privacy.
Related news articles:
- Carestream Health's Profile
About Carestream Health
Carestream Health is a worldwide provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions; molecular imaging systems for life science research and drug discovery/development; X-ray film and digital X-ray systems for non-destructive testing; and advanced materials for the precision films and electronics markets.