In this article, we explore PACS technology and its applications, PACS archiving and PACS data archive solutions.

Introduction to PACS Technology

PACS, the acronym for ‘Picture Archiving and Communication System’, is a medical technology used by healthcare professionals and institutes to generate and share medical images and reports. These images are generated from different machines and processes like MRI, X-Ray, and CT Scans, etc. The generated medical images are transmitted via a network to different devices and are later stored for further use.

Standard Formats in PACS Technology

The standard imaging format generated using PACS technology is ‘Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM)’. Different modality machines like MRI, radiology etc. generate images in this format whereas the reports are in ‘Portable Document Format (PDF)’.

 Now let’s take a look at the benefits healthcare organizations gain by integrating PACS technology.

Benefits of PACS Technology

Following are the major benefits of PACS Technology:

• PACS frees the professionals from manual management of hard copies of the data.
• PACS automates the process employed in institutes and by the professionals.
• PACS communicates the data to remote locations and personnel for mutual uses.
• PACS securely stores the data which can be accessed whenever required.
• PACS provides data for future reference.

Introduction to PACS Archiving

PACS Archiving is the long term retention of PACS data; which consists of medical images and reports. PACS archiving can be setup in on-premises infrastructure and in purpose-built cloud archiving tiers. Which data archive solution is best suited for a use-case? That depends on different variables like the size of the data, the duration of retention and the cost of archiving.

PACS technology deals with sensitive data that needs reliable data security. Healthcare service providers have to be compliant with regulations like HIPAA/HITRUST; this means that they have to follow specific guidelines about data storage, long term data retention and data protection.

With reliable and secure data archive solutions setup to support PACS technology, healthcare services providers can comply to industry regulations and optimize data storage, retention and management.

Factors Affecting Selection of Data Archive Solutions for PACS Archiving

Following factors play an important role in the selection of data archive solutions for PACS Archiving.

Size of Data

The size of the data plays an important role in the selection of data archive solution for PACS archiving. The greater the volume of data, the more challenging it is to effectively manage and store it. Although cloud-based archive solutions offer greater and more convenient flexibility but on-premises infrastructure facilitates high IOPS and performance requirements; this makes it important to first understand the usage of data before deciding on the suitable data archive solution for it.

Duration of Retention

The time span for which data has to be archived is also a factor which affects the selection of the solution. Some data needs to be archived for more time than the other. The resource allocation will be different for both types of data.

Costs of Archiving

Budget restrictions are an important element of any enterprise decision. Cloud-based data archiving solutions offer various pricing models such as the “pay-as-you-go” model. Similarly, there are numerous purpose-built on-premises data archive solutions that offer greater value for money. An example would be StoneFly’s NAS appliance series.

Data Archive Solutions for PACS Archiving

The following three types of data archive solutions can be used for PACS archiving:

Cloud-based Data Archive Solution for PACS Archiving

Cloud-based data archive tiers, such as Azure Archive blob or AWS Glacier, can effectively support PACS archiving. Healthcare IT environments can integrate cloud-based archiving tiers with their existing storage infrastructure using cloud storage gateways.

Cloud-based data archive solutions are easy to deploy and cost a lot less than most on-premises data archive solutions. Cloud data archive solutions also enable users to reduce OpEx expenses by removing in-house storage systems completely. This also reduces the staff and resources needed to manage the infrastructure.

On-Premises Data Archive Solution for PACS Archiving

On-premises PACS archiving utilizes in-house storage infrastructure for archiving. Different types of storage media can be used for the purpose of data archiving like Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Direct Attached Storage (DAS), tape drives etc.

Users can also leverage hyperconverged infrastructure that incorporates server, storage and network in a single, easy-to-manage appliance. Similarly, offsite data archiving systems can be setup for PACS archiving. In such a setup, users can deploy storage media offsite and then move the data to be archived using a network, WAN or by moving tape drives physically to the offsite location.

Hybrid Data Archive Solution for PACS Archiving

Hybrid archiving solution is the combination of on-premises storage media and cloud storage tiers (like Azure Archive blob, AWS Glacier, etc.). In such a setup, users can keep some of their recent data on-premises whereas the older data is moved to the cloud. There it is retained for a user-defined time span but it costs less to keep it there.

Conclusion

PACS technology is used to generate and share images and reports related to medical and healthcare institutions. These images are in DICOM format and the reports are in PDF format. PACS technology reduces manual handling of hard copies of reports and images. It also shares the data which can be used by other professionals for references. It saves time and speeds-up data accessibility.

PACS archiving depends on size of data, costs of archiving and duration of retention of the data. And healthcare service providers can choose from three types of data archive solutions for their PACS archiving needs: cloud-based data archiving, on-premises data archive infrastructure, and hybrid data archive solutions.