Options for Konica Minolta Customers Facing OPAL-RAD PACS and OPAL RIS End of Support

Summary

As healthcare technology evolves, some systems get retired and replaced. Konica Minolta reports their OPAL-RAD PACS and OPAL RIS systems will no longer be serviced by the end of 2024. As customers migrate to other systems, images will need to be migrated and retained to meet regulatory requirements. HealthData Archiver®, with its DICOM Viewer, provides complete cloud-based medical image archival with ongoing access to images with Single Sign-On from the go-forward EHR. It also eliminates the need to migrate and convert legacy images to a new PACS system.

OPAL DICOM

A recent announcement from Konica Minolta explains that their OPAL-RAD PACS and OPAL RIS product support will end effective in December 2024. It states: As technology evolves, occasionally our products reach the end of their ability to be serviced or End of Support (EOS) stage of their product lifecycle.

Healthcare providers with the Konica Minolta OPAL-RAD PACS and OPAL RIS image systems, or others that reach EOS, need a plan to move forward. This may include a new Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) or Radiology Information System (RIS), but also must consider a plan for retaining medical images and reports to maintain regulatory compliance and organizational best practices. It is important to remember that images are considered medical records and must be retained for at least five years or as required by the state.

Solution offers cloud-based legacy data management solution for images.

A PACS or RIS application reaching EOS status calls for a long-term solution for the images that need to be retained. The DICOM Viewer from Harmony Healthcare IT is an advanced archive solution that stores images in full resolution, with built-in tools to offer an enhanced user experience over other PDF-based image archive solutions on the market.

The DICOM Viewer allows clinicians immediate access to review legacy image files through Single Sign-On access from the go-forward electronic health record (EHR) system. Benefits include improved workflows, multiple image display options, links to DICOM studies and cost benefits over other vendor neutral archives. For more information, check out this article.

Access to legacy images and scans supports deeper investigative care.

Medical adviser and emergency room physician, Dr. Mark Kricheff, MD, MPH explains how access to legacy DICOM images supports current patient care: “We see patients who have abnormal findings on a CT scan and we don’t know if those are new or old. That is a big deal. Having access to DICOM images from years ago can be valuable.”

Check out the HealthData Talks podcast: DICOM Viewer for an Active Archive.

DICOM Viewer for HealthData Archiver® renders images in their native state which allows the clinician to view the original study instead of viewing a PDF. This is a significant differentiator over other vendor neutral archives.

With interoperability of all health information as an expected standard, HealthData Archiver® DICOM Viewer supports regulatory and best practices for lifecycle data management.

Reach out to learn more or schedule a demo.

 

 

Aug 15 2023

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