The bulk of the medical
data in the healthcare world is stored in specialized systems designed to store
and search for particular data types. For example, hospitals often separate
information systems for each department. Radiology may store MRI scans in one
system, cardiology may store EKGs in another, laboratory may store reports in a
document management system, and administration may store its records in a
relational database management systems DBMS. Through integrated software such as
VCS, hospitals and other healthcare
institutions hope to provide an integrated on-line patient record system
enabling doctors and other healthcare professionals to access comprehensive
patient information by searching within and across these specialized systems.
However, it is unlikely to move all the medical data to a new centralized
system, or to any new system that would disrupt their routine existing
applications or threatens the autonomy of the various departments.
The goal of this work is to
incorporate into the VCS system a
subsystem and associated tools for transparently integrating and managing large
quantities of medical data stored in a variety of existing data repositories.
This includes relational databases, proprietary databases, files, and other
information sources. The subsystem will provide a user with the means to
transparently access and combine the data from any data repository and to store
data from various applications or different sources on an as-needed basis.
Details of the backend data structures will be hidden from the user.
In adding such information
integration capabilities to the VCS system, we have a few requirements in mind. First, the VCS
system is to be deployed on a nation-wide scale as an Internet 2 application,
the subsystem needs to accommodate an integrated access to very diverse
information sources, and should be able to extend into new kinds of data
repositories. Second, information integration should not require any changes to
the existing data sources, or their applications, thereby obviating the need for
expensive data extraction, data conversion, or application conversion. Third,
the subsystem should be simple and general, providing a uniform integration
process with a point-to-many-points access to multiple remote data sources at
the same time. The VCS system, as an
Internet 2 application, cannot afford to provide a different ad hoc integration
solution for each of the data sources. Fourth, the subsystem should provide
users with standard interfaces such as Java and/or a browser tool to access
heterogeneous data sources, which allows users to access data. It would be
desirable if the interface is ODMG-compliant. Last but not the least, the
subsystem should fit architecturally into the current CORBA environment of VCS, so that the ORB acts as a communication mechanism to provide
distributed dispatching of requests to objects among the clients and servers of
the integrated information subsystem.
The Company's Virtual
Consultation System ( VCS ) is a
practical and necessary imaging solution for healthcare organizations. From the
low demand Pentium-based PC unit for small remote locations to the high demand
UNIX-based Sun workstation, VCS is
not only highly profitable, it can help a healthcare organization achieve the
“competitive edge”.
The Company's ( VCS ) software incorporates Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards eliminating the needs for future upgrades. By incorporating this standard-based solution, the healthcare organization will be able to import and export images ( teaching images ), archive all images ( reducing needs for hard copy storage ), establish a database PACS for multiple modality viewing ( ICU/CCU viewing, ER viewing, Specialist workstation viewing ) and most importantly allow private networks to interface with other existing networks, The VCS software also utilizes state-of-the-art JAVA language programming that enables the software to work across platforms (PC, UNIX, and Windows NT). The software engine for VCS will allow healthcare organizations centrally or in remote locations to access databases and non-homogenous databases across networks via a revolutionary design over an open channel environment. This software is currently being developed and copyrighted by The Company.
The VCS
version 1.0(RCD, Remote Consultation & Diagnosis) is primarily being used as
a pilot testing program for customers to familiarize themselves with the new
technology and the concept of global picture archiving and communications. The
US Army is currently utilizing VCS as a teleradiology project in Fort Huachuca,
Arizona. They are transferring images from the base to the University Medical
Center.