Many medical professionals, including radiologists and surgeons, rely heavily upon medical imaging resources. That's because, as part of their role, they need a way to access images for diagnosis, archive these images within a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and share them with patients, as well as other medical professionals.
While this functionality is essential for providing quality care, what many practices often don't realize are the time and costs associated with maintaining an onsite PACS as their facility's data grows. With increased data comes an increased need for additional hardware, security protocols, IT staff salaries and expenses on utilities, including electric and cooling to ensure the hardware continues to operate smoothly.
For a practice owner, as these costs start to build, and responsibilities for managing hardware become a more costly and time-intensive task, you might be asking yourself, "How did my medical practice morph into a data center?"