Sentara Healthcare optimizes imaging with VNA
Ascendian Healthcare Consulting, a national healthcare IT consultancy, has partnered with Sentara Healthcare to drive increased optimization across the organization’s Enterprise Clinical Imaging operations. Underlying the initiative is the utilization of a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) solution along with efficiencies gained through transformation of processes, workflow and technological advancements.
Sentara is harnessing enterprise medical data and deploying a system that gives physicians and medical professionals access to image data across its sites in Virginia and North Carolina. Integration and interoperability are keys to Sentara’s expansive operations and the management, storage and distribution of digital medical images as well as other clinical content across its healthcare and hospital systems.
“Before engaging Ascendian we treated the VNA as an application project,” said Trent Conwell, Technical Manager – Integration Architecture at Sentara. “With the expertise that Ascendian brings to the table we now have a comprehensive view of what we call Sentara’s Enterprise Imaging Strategy. This strategy has given our team the knowledge and structure to focus on each of the components necessary to achieve Sentara’s enterprise imaging goals.”
The complexity and costs of storing, securing and sharing data has intensified for healthcare providers. A VNA solution can enhance the quality of care, patient safety and increase efficiencies with in a health system’s operations. These benefits are compounded when healthcare organizations are growing through M&A, or participating in emerging HIE’s and ACO models.
“The VNA activities at Sentara are a confirmation of their continuous innovation through the adoption of health IT,” said Jef Williams, Vice President at Ascendian Healthcare Consulting. “We look forward to partnering with Sentara and delivering the next generation of imaging architecture.”
About Ascendian Healthcare Consulting - Ascendian Healthcare Consulting is a national leader in HIT solutions. We are renowned for our ability to help healthcare organizations rapidly adopt technology and innovative practices. Ascendian offers Imaging Systems Interoperability, HIT Strategic Planning for Implementation, Health Information Exchange (HIE) Planning and Deployment, VNA and Intelligent Archiving Development, ICD10 migration and Radiation Dose Consulting. For more information, visit http://www.ascendian.com or call us directly at 866.323.7227.
About Sentara Healthcare - Sentara Healthcare is an acknowledged leader in patient safety and quality innovation. Founded in 1888 as the Retreat for the Sick in Norfolk, Virginia, Sentara has ranked for more than a decade among the nation's top integrated healthcare systems by Modern Healthcare magazine and was selected as the nation’s #1 most integrated health care system for two years consecutively in 2010 and 2011. Sentara, a not-for-profit health system, operates more than 100 sites of care serving residents across Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The system is comprised of 10 acute care hospitals, including seven in Hampton Roads, one in Northern Virginia, and two in the Blue Ridge region, advanced imaging centers, nursing and assisted-living centers, outpatient campuses, a home health and hospice agency, a 3,680-provider medical staff, and three medical groups with 618 providers. Sentara also offers medical transport ambulances and Nightingale, the first air ambulance serving Hampton Roads. Optima Health, an award winning Sentara owned health plan, serves more than 450,000 members in Virginia. For more information, visit http://www.sentara.com .