Why should radiologists care about the cloud? Because cloud can effectively take that anxiety away. Moving to a hybrid-cloud or fully cloud-based environment ensures radiologists have multiple copies of data backed up to different data centers. In the event of a ransomware attack or some other data breach that may cause downtime, imaging data can be recovered much more quickly, and in full, ensuring little to no disruption to radiology workflows.

Access anywhere
Making imaging systems available at all times may be the most critical feature of the cloud for radiologists, but it’s not the only one. Another major feature of the cloud is giving radiologists immediate access to patient data, anywhere, anytime, regardless of the patient’s or clinician’s location. That remote support allows radiologists to quickly and easily pull any prior studies or patient exams, without any of the delays, technical problems, or human error that plagued the old status quo of carrying images on CDs.

This isn’t just a benefit to the radiologist’s experience; it benefits the patient’s, too. Patients don’t have to shoulder the responsibility of bringing CDs of their imaging exams from doctor to doctor, and risk losing the disc or forgetting it before an appointment. Instead, the physician can call up the image themselves, making it easier for everyone.

Working on the cutting edge
With a cloud-based PACS environment, radiologists also don’t have to worry about their tools falling out of date. Software updates and additional tool sets are automatically available, eliminating the hassle that comes with manually deploying upgrades in an on-premise environment, and ensuring that the time and cost burdens that came with those manual upgrades don’t affect cloud-based workflows.

Built-in interoperability and vendor neutrality with cloud platforms also mean radiologists can reap all of these benefits no matter what prior imaging systems they were using.

Meeting you where you are
Constant availability, access from anywhere, automatic upgrades, interoperability and vendor neutrality – these are just a few of the key building blocks of what a cloud-based PACS environment can do for radiologists, and why it’s more important than ever for radiologists to know, care about, and embrace the cloud when it comes to storing and reviewing patient images.

About the author: Marc Smith is the leader for cloud at Merative.

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