by Tony Cotterill
@TonyCotterill
VNA technology has received much attention in healthcare IT and clinical environments over the last few years. But the definition of what a VNA technology is and the benefits that it can deliver varies widely depending on the vendor, consultant, analyst, or organization to which you may speak.
To consider the real capabilities of a traditional VNA, it is useful to understand the origins of the technology. VNA was invented to solve two very precise problems presented by PACS systems:
- The migration of images between different brands of PACS applications; and
- The shared access between different PACS applications to the same DICOM images.
Although the DICOM standard was intended to enable shared access and migration of images between and among PACS applications, the way in which the DICOM standard was implemented from vendor to vendor varied creating communications problems which VNA overcomes.
In truth, therefore, VNA technologies are neither vendor-neutral nor archives. It would be more accurate to call them PACS-neutral repositories.
However, hospitals need true archives for DICOM images. Also, hospitals need archives which are fully-functional for all types of hospital data, rather than just DICOM images.
Why VNA Technologies are Not Vendor-Neutral
Let’s consider the first part of the technology name, which is “vendor-neutral”. Health IT teams expect that when they deploy a VNA that they are obtaining a technology which enables DICOM images to be shared among different brands of PACS systems. They need this capability, to support migration of images when PACS systems are upgraded and replaced. They also need this to enable sharing of DICOM images among various departments within their hospitals – although this is much more of a theory in most hospitals today than a reality.
So, in truth, the primary use for a VNA is not “vendor-neutral” but more accurately “PACS-neutral” or at best “DICOM application-neutral”. VNA technology establishes a new repository for DICOM images, and enables this type of shared access by being neutral to DICOM based applications (predominantly PACS). To be truly vendor-neutral requires a solution that can handle all types of data from all applications sources not just DICOM based applications such as PACS. BridgeHead’s Healthcare Data Management solution provides just this.
Why VNA Technologies are Not Archives
As a repository, VNA provides a unified location into which all DICOM images can be stored and shared. Providing a unified storage approach for DICOM images also makes them easier and more cost-effective to protect and manage. However, a unified repository is not the same as an archive because a unified repository does nothing to protect, secure and manage the images.
A true archive provides long-term storage of data, with assured protection and availability. Some of the capabilities required within an archive technology to deliver protection and availability, include file and system level protection with built-in encryption and authentication. Some of the many benefits of true archive for managed hospital data can include:
- Optimize the footprint of the data through the use of compression, de-duplication, and retention management
- Reduced cost of the archive storage, through tiered use of a combination of storage systems
- Raised availability and protection of data, by ensuring multiple copies of data stored at local and remote locations
- Ensured security and privacy of archived data
- Shared access to data through authorized secondary use
VNA technologies do not provide any of these critical archive capabilities nor benefits. Many people are also surprised to learn that DICOM does not provide any capability for ensuring privacy of images, nor authorized access for shared use.
VNA technologies are in truth better termed image repositories, which then need to be protected with true archive capabilities at the file and storage layers. BridgeHead has provided information on these gaps in traditional VNA technologies, in our white paper titled “VNA Does Not Equal Image Availability: What Every Hospital Should Know.”
The Power of Comprehensive VNA for All Hospital Applications
DICOM images are just one type of data which needs to be stored, protected and shared within hospital environments. Additional data types include non-DICOM images, unstructured file content, and enterprise application data like email. What is needed, therefore, is an approach to managing hospital data which establishes a unified repository like a VNA does for DICOM images but enables it to work for all types of hospital data.
VNA, in short, is just a limited part of what is required for healthcare data management. What’s needed for healthcare is a comprehensive approach for all types of hospital data which enables;
- Efficient data storage across tiered systems so that costs are minimized;
- Integrated protection to assure data availability and long-term retention as required to meet healthcare regulations; and
- Shared access to data which enables cross-department use within a hospital, and which supports data sharing across hospitals within exchange systems, and for hospital mergers and acquisitions.
Such a solution might be better termed not just as being “Vendor-Neutral” but in fact “Application-Neutral”.
