“You want to resist using your archival system as a landfill for bad records when going through deconstruction,” said Kennedy. “Bad demographics are the root of all integration woes.”

Other issues Kennedy touched upon included:

• Any record should take five seconds or less for a radiologist to pull up. This helps to make radiologists more efficient. This is key, given that radiologist time, after technology, is the most expensive part of delivering imaging services.


• Only large organizations with extensive resources should attempt to deconstruct their PACS in-house.


• Good governance protocols are critical in conducting a good PACS deconstruction and making the switch to a VNR.


• Allow enough time for PACS deconstruction. Six months is not a lot of time when a petabyte or more of imaging data is at stake.

In concluding, Kennedy stressed that system-wide VNAs are the future of image storage. This trend will mesh with evolution of PACS deconstruction — all of which will allow physicians to access the electronic medical record to easily and quickly access images.

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