Glossary
VNA Vendor Neutral Archive
What is a vendor neutral archive?
vendor neutral archive (VNA) is a centralized technology solution for medical imagery that allows healthcare professionals to store, manage, and share medical images and related data efficiently.
VNAs operate independently from the systems that create the data, enabling images from different systems to be accessed and shared between departments, facilities, and organizations. VNAs use standard formats to store images but also can convert non-standardized imagery data into useable, industry-standard formats like DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).
The Benefits of VNA
Format standardization for interoperability – By standardizing image formats, VNAs seamlessly integrate with different healthcare IT systems, such as PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), RIS (Radiology Information System), and EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems.
Centralized data storage and consolidation – A VNA can store large amounts of (unstructured) imagery data, including X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and ultrasounds, providing a unified platform for managing imaging data from multiple medical departments.
Scalability – VNAs are designed to handle huge quantities of imaging data with high-efficiency, accommodating for inevitable storage growth.
Data security – VNAs incorporate security features, such as backup redundancy (for disaster recovery) and other cybersecurity measures to protect patient data and comply with regulatory standards like HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
Storage optimization for cost efficiency – VNAs support various storage models, including on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid storage. This reduces the costs associated with duplicate image storage and lessens the need for expensive infrastructure investments.
Enhanced data migration – As the name suggests, VNAs are indeed vendor-neutral. This greatly simplifies the transition between different PACS vendors and reduces migration costs and risks associated with system upgrades.
Comparing VNA to PACS
Both VNA and PACS are medical imagery systems that handle data, offering similar benefits to patients and medical professionals:
increases availability of medical imagery
easy-to-use
enhanced scalability
reduces patient wait times for diagnostic readings
How are they different?
VNA systems focus on centralized storage, management, and archiving of medical imagery for near- and long-term usage, providing a single repository for images regardless of vendor or source formatting.
PACS systems also store and manage medical images, albeit focused more heavily on transmitting, retrieving, and displaying images. Because of this differentiation, a PACS is known to better facilitate sharing of medical imagery between different physicians and other medical professionals within a healthcare organization. However, traditional PACS are often proprietary which can sometimes limit accessibility and increase complexity and cost associated with data migrations between vendors or separate healthcare organizations.
VNAs are designed for compatibility across a variety of healthcare systems, which helps to ensure that patient records remain ever-accessible, even when switching vendors. VNAs are known to promote flexibility and eliminate vendor lock-in.
The importance of VNAs to modern healthcare
Healthcare organizations across the US continue to move towards more integrated and value-based care models. With the enhanced ability to efficiently store, retrieve, and share patient medical data, such as imagery, VNAs play a crucial role in supporting enterprise data strategies.
In care settings, VNAs help improve diagnostic capabilities and overall patient outcomes and by reducing the time spent processing and sharing medical imagery.
VNA cloud storage
Wasabi’s simple, affordable, and HIPAA-compliant cloud object storage enables healthcare organizations retain and protect medical imaging and other critical healthcare data with ease. Meet long-term retention compliance requirements without limiting data accessibility – all for a fraction of the cost of traditional cloud storage.
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