Tips for Healthcare Organizations to Get on Fast Track to Successful Electronic Medical Records Implementations
Large or small, healthcare organizations recognize that the sooner they adopt and implement electronic medical records in their environment, the sooner they will realize its process efficiencies plus accelerate their ability to comply with a number of HIPAA regulations. However small and midsize healthcare organizations in particular first need to find room in their budget to pay for a back end storage solution before there is any chance electronic medical records becomes a reality for them. The Imation InfiniVault™ addresses their concerns as it provides them with a cost-effective solution for the long-term retention of their healthcare data while serving to simplify retention management and automating compliance, data protection and disaster recovery.
Implementing electronic medical records (EMR) is becoming an integral component of what is needed to revolutionize patient treatment with the healthcare industry. Within a healthcare organization, it makes patient records more easily accessible to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who work for it. Further, as more professionals in these organizations start using mobile devices (tablets, iPhones, etc) in their treatment of patients it becomes imperative that they digitize their records so they can access this data using these devices.
On a larger scale, the implementation of EMR facilitates a healthcare organization's ability to easily share patient data with other healthcare organizations. It also serves to increase the efficiency of hospital systems, reduces the likelihood of errors in the medical records themselves and brings them into compliance with a number of the regulations found in HIPAA itself.
But as healthcare organizations look to introduce EMR into their environment and realize its benefits, EMR's upfront costs coupled with its ongoing support and maintenance can make such a storage solution difficult to justify. This is especially true as it pertains to small and midsize healthcare organizations. Unlike large healthcare organizations that may be able to justify these costs based on the volume of data they store and manage, small and midsize healthcare organizations typically have much less data to store that makes an EMR solution difficult to cost justify.
Aggravating the situation, HIPAA makes no provisions (nor should it) that permits small or midsize healthcare organizations to implement storage systems that have "lesser" capabilities. These systems need to possess the same capabilities as enterprise systems so patient records are appropriately stored and secured. As such, small and midsize healthcare organizations need storage solutions with the same set of robust features and functionality as enterprise offerings but with a smaller footprint and price point.
This is where the Imation InfiniVault comes into play. Unlike other storage systems targeted at the healthcare organizations in the small and midsize space, Imation includes its VaultCenter software with every InfiniVault system shipped. This software performs typical storage system operations (file shares, manages user quotas, Active Directory integration, etc.) but it more importantly offers the robust software feature set that small and midsize healthcare organizations require to justify their investment in the solution.
The Imation InfiniVault delivers on these requirements in the following three ways:
The Imation InfiniVault changes that perspective. The Infinivault opens the door for these organizations to pursue bringing EMR into their environment as it delivers the enterprise software features that an EMR implementation requires with the flexibility in storage capacity and pricing that small and midsize healthcare organizations want.
Implementing electronic medical records (EMR) is becoming an integral component of what is needed to revolutionize patient treatment with the healthcare industry. Within a healthcare organization, it makes patient records more easily accessible to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who work for it. Further, as more professionals in these organizations start using mobile devices (tablets, iPhones, etc) in their treatment of patients it becomes imperative that they digitize their records so they can access this data using these devices.
On a larger scale, the implementation of EMR facilitates a healthcare organization's ability to easily share patient data with other healthcare organizations. It also serves to increase the efficiency of hospital systems, reduces the likelihood of errors in the medical records themselves and brings them into compliance with a number of the regulations found in HIPAA itself.
But as healthcare organizations look to introduce EMR into their environment and realize its benefits, EMR's upfront costs coupled with its ongoing support and maintenance can make such a storage solution difficult to justify. This is especially true as it pertains to small and midsize healthcare organizations. Unlike large healthcare organizations that may be able to justify these costs based on the volume of data they store and manage, small and midsize healthcare organizations typically have much less data to store that makes an EMR solution difficult to cost justify.
Aggravating the situation, HIPAA makes no provisions (nor should it) that permits small or midsize healthcare organizations to implement storage systems that have "lesser" capabilities. These systems need to possess the same capabilities as enterprise systems so patient records are appropriately stored and secured. As such, small and midsize healthcare organizations need storage solutions with the same set of robust features and functionality as enterprise offerings but with a smaller footprint and price point.
This is where the Imation InfiniVault comes into play. Unlike other storage systems targeted at the healthcare organizations in the small and midsize space, Imation includes its VaultCenter software with every InfiniVault system shipped. This software performs typical storage system operations (file shares, manages user quotas, Active Directory integration, etc.) but it more importantly offers the robust software feature set that small and midsize healthcare organizations require to justify their investment in the solution.
The Imation InfiniVault delivers on these requirements in the following three ways:
- Automates compliance. Simply having a storage solution that offers software that satisfies a healthcare organization's legal requirements is only part of the equation. The software also needs to automate the process associated with implementing the solution in their environment.
The Imation VaultCenter software accomplishes this by taking health care organizations through a one-time setup process. At this time information is collected about its specific business rules to include its internal corporate polices, government regulations to which it is subject or other legal requirements to which it must adhere.
Once complete, the Imation InfiniVault automatically retains data for the required length of time, puts data on the appropriate tier of storage to optimize storage utilization and costs and then even deletes it if it is stipulated by the policy. It accomplishes all of this even as it authenticates the data, preserves its immutability and confidentiality, and keeps it accessible for applications and even eDiscovery requirements.
- Stores DICOM images. Nearly every size healthcare organization generates or accesses medical images from scanning devices (referred to as modalities) or uses Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and Radiology Imaging Systems (RIS). What all of these systems share in common is their use of the DICOM protocol that is the standard for handling, storing, printing and transmitting information in medical imaging. As such, any storage system that a small or midsize healthcare organization would want to use as its common repository for this type of data must support DICOM.
The Imation InviniVault enables these size healthcare organizations to store DICOM images. Using its optional DICOM feature, they get the flexibility to securely store and protect these medical images. Further, it serves as a vendor neutral archive for storing images from any PACS or RIS software provider so should they need to change software providers in the future they may continue to use the InfiniVault as their storage solution.
- Cost-effective storage. The Imation InfiniVault combines the best of what every other storage solution for small and midsize healthcare organizations has to offer. While it provides online storage (SATA drives) for applications that need higher levels of performance, its inclusion of RDX (removable disk drive) technology facilitates affordability (start with only as much storage capacity as you need and then add more capacity as you need it), portability (move disk drives offsite for data protection and disaster recovery), and scalability (add larger and/or more disk drives as existing drives fill up).
Using the Imation policy-driven VaultCenter software, as data ages it may be automatically moved between these different tiers of storage so it is placed on the most appropriate tier to optimize available storage capacity and performance. Further since the InfiniVault uses AES-256 encrypted technology when sensitive patient data is placed on RDX drives, healthcare organizations do not need to be concerned about the integrity of this data being compromised.
Today many small and midsize healthcare organizations are looking to implement EMR to both take advantage of the efficiencies it offers and bring them into compliance with existing HIPAA regulations. However to date accomplishing that twin feat has been a challenge at best.
The Imation InfiniVault changes that perspective. The Infinivault opens the door for these organizations to pursue bringing EMR into their environment as it delivers the enterprise software features that an EMR implementation requires with the flexibility in storage capacity and pricing that small and midsize healthcare organizations want.
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