The term is increasingly common in healthcare IT: Vendor Neutral Archive, or VNA. The name already gives us a pretty good idea of what it is, but how can such an archive be used and what are the benefits for the healthcare organisations that use it? Let's take a closer look.
A patient's healthcare file is fragmented - over the years, it has, by necessity, been stored in various EHRs and healthcare systems. There is a need for a solution to bring this data together, for a holistic view of the patient.
With a Vendor Neutral Archive, security data (originally mainly radiological images, but now all kinds of healthcare data) are brought together in a standardised way in one vendor-independent archive. This data can then be integrated into other systems and be made accessible by means of a viewer.
A Vendor Neutral Archive can also offer a solution when phasing out old care systems. Not all data needs to be transferred to the new solution (and then we haven't even mentioned the very expensive migration processes). Instead, the data can be stored in a VNA and made available to multiple other systems in a scalable way.
The word ‘standardised’ already appeared in the definition above — and for good reason. It's a crucial factor. The reusability of the data stored in Vendor Neutral Archives is made possible by using open standards, which ensure that healthcare data is stored in a standard format and can be accessed trough a standardised interface. For CareBase24, our open platform for healthcare data, we use the internationally recognised openEHR standard for data modelling and storage.
For more information about openEHR, our article ‘Why openEHR?’ offers a good starting point.
Vendor Neutral Archives are currently used in the following scenarios:
As mentioned, VNAs were initially used primarily for vendor-independent storage of radiology images (this was traditionally done using PACS - Picture Archiving and Communication Systems).
PACS also faced the problem of monolithic data silos with their own protocols and limited interoperability options, despite the use of standards such as DICOM for storage and HL7 for exchange with the hospital's EHR. VNAs could provide a vendor-independent (in this case also known as ‘hardware agnostic’) solution for this.
Many healthcare organisations (particularly hospitals) use a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). When switching to a new LIMS, a choice must be made about what to do with the historical lab results. Many LIMS suppliers prefer not to import historical data. As such, the healthcare organisation is left with a choice between data loss or storing the data independently of the supplier: in a VNA!
The advantage is that the lab results from the new LIMS can also be stored in the VNA. This has the potential to make the VNA the source for storing all lab results - completely independent of the supplier. If there is a switch to another LIMS in the future, that system can also be linked to the VNA so that those lab results can also be added.
At CODE24 we offer a solution for this scenario: CareBase24 in combination with Lab24. When CareBase24 is used in this scenario, the data from other end-of-life systems can also be stored in it. A sustainable, future-proof solution that paves the way for many other innovative applications.
Does your organisation face such a challenge? Please contact us, we are happy to discuss the possibilities with you.
The use of a Vendor Neutral Archive also means that collaboration between different disciplines (for example within a hospital or even for regional collaboration) can be facilitated more easily and scalably. Where the subsystems of different disciplines sometimes have difficulty communicating with each other, a VNA makes healthcare data available in a reusable way.
No more messing around with very expensive disks or slow solutions that can barely handle the ever-increasing quantity and improved quality (and therefore larger file formats) of data - with a VNA you build an archiving structure for the long term - integral, with context, historical and current.
Within healthcare organisations, a huge amount of non-medical data is also collected for various business intelligence purposes. A Vendor Neutral Archive can serve as a central respository fot this data as well, bringing together information from multiple source systems to support comprehensive analysis.
The concept of a Vendor Neutral Archive has been in constant development over the years. Where it was initially mainly about facilitating a vendor independent data layer for radiological images, we now see the term appearing in many contexts. Who knows where we will be in a few years, now that vendor independent storage of healthcare data is so high on the agenda?
We will continue to follow the developments and keep you informed!