This patient-centric data format eliminates today's hodge podge of expensive, unwieldy IT interfaces and home grown workarounds that today attempt to fill in the gap among systems. Applications using the archive require only a single point of integration to a standardized service for access.

VNAs commonly include data from HIS, RIS, PACS and EMR as well as from many specialty departmental systems.


Adhering to true standards with a VNA

A VNA works with standards developed by the widely recognized Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative, including DICOM, XDS and XDS1, HL7 and others. Using this shared standard data formatting, the VNA provides an all-inclusive archive as the single point of information access for all the healthcare IT applications connected to it.

Any current non-standard data needs to be transitioned to this standardized formatting as part of the VNA migration process -- and many VNAs actually provide this data conversion for users. Medical sites weary of the ongoing cycles of data translation that accompany a move to a new IT application will be relieved knowing that this is the last data migration they will ever have to perform. And the process can be handled efficiently and cost-effectively by many VNA vendors.

Image-enabling of EMRs and other IT systems becomes far less challenging than with an isolated PACS archive since the VNA contains diagnostic images. The ability to provide this patient-centric storage and information sharing will put facilities on the road to meaningful use.

Getting a head start: Practical advice on implementing a VNA

A VNA is a solution you will live with for a long time-probably through multiple PACS applications. And it will serve the needs of multiple departments. Therefore, articulating a VNA vision and creating a roadmap for success will help move the project along more successfully and rapidly when the time comes to transition to a VNA.

Assess your priorities

Sites implement a VNA to meet a wide variety of needs. These might include image integration in an EMR, archiving images beyond DICOM (such as endoscopy), enabling data mining for tracking enterprise trends and predicting needs, or integrating a Health Information Exchange. Many of these goals will make specific technology demands on a VNA and may involve trade-offs and added costs. Understanding the goals and priorities for a project across the hospital will support sound decision-making and satisfaction with the results.

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