February 23, 2012 — Siemens Healthcare announced two new solutions for image management and radiology workflow that will be hosted from the Siemens Healthcare Cloud Computing Center (HCCC), in Malvern, Pa. In a strategic alliance with Dell, Round Rock, Texas, Siemens will deliver a cloud-based, vendor-agnostic image sharing and archiving (ISA) solution. The ISA offering will be primarily hosted out of Siemens HCCC, using Dell’s clinical data management software. Additionally, Siemens and Dell will securely federate their respective healthcare clouds, providing customers an additional form of redundancy for this key clinical content.
The solution will help healthcare providers reduce the ongoing capital expenditure of maintaining on-site image archives. Additionally, Siemens is announcing a new implementation approach for its syngo workflow radiology information system (RIS), which can be hosted from Siemens HCCC. These solutions will be presented in Siemens booth #2423 at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2012 meeting in Las Vegas, Nev.
With Siemens ISA, healthcare organizations can reduce ongoing capital expenditure that is typically incurred from the maintenance of local, on-site image archiving hardware. Modern imaging modalities generate tremendous volumes of data that can quickly outpace the growth rate of on-site storage. ISA provides the scalability to change in accordance with a facility’s needs, and peace of mind with an efficient disaster recovery strategy. Additionally, the ISA solution stores imaging content in a vendor-neutral format, enabling imaging department administrators to realize a simpler data migration plan when switching to a different picture archiving and communications system (PACS) solution. Finally, the offering enables hospitals to share imaging data across specialties and departments in the enterprise – putting the images in the hands of referring physicians faster. Customers who choose the ISA solution can begin using their vendor neutral archive (VNA) within three to six months of signing.
“Imaging departments face significant cost pressures and, as a result, administration must look for ways to optimize productivity while, at the same time, lower the cost of maintaining imaging archives. By turning to Siemens and Dell for these solutions, administrators can switch from being system ‘maintainers’ to system ‘optimizers,’” said Kurt Reiff, vice president, business management, syngo Americas.
“It’s critical that every diagnostic image for a patient is available to multiple clinicians at the point of care. With this first-of-its-kind alliance, we are providing solutions that facilitate easy data retrieval and secure data sharing while simplifying IT management and maintenance for the long term,” said James Coffin, Ph.D., vice president and general manager, Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences.
RIS in the Cloud
At HIMSS 2012, Siemens will also unveil a new approach to delivering and maintaining its syngo Workflow RIS. Siemens will again turn to its private, medical-grade HCCC and its Managed Services IT Solutions and Consulting business to help customers better predict costs and reduce capital expenditures associated with maintaining a RIS. As such, private cloud solution for syngo Workflow provides a more predictable cost environment, particularly for hospitals already hosting other elements of their health information technology solution through the HCCC.
As Siemens is maintaining all RIS functionality in the HCCC, the company will also be able to utilize the solutions to provide valuable national benchmark metrics accumulated from syngo Workflow users. This assessment will be provided annually to customers. These business analytics could help customers better understand how their organization is currently using syngo Workflow, identifying ways to make improvements through an examination of the current software configuration.
For further information: www.siemens.com/healthcare
July 26, 2024 
