The Benefits of Transitioning to the Cloud for Medical Imaging

Transitioning medical imaging to the cloud—or adopting a hybrid approach—offers healthcare organizations scalability, cost savings, disaster recovery, and operational flexibility, making it a strategic move for long-term success.

What are the benefits of moving medical imaging to the cloud?

Cloud adoption reduces IT burden, improves disaster recovery, and enables elastic scalability. Facilities can start with hybrid models—keeping some systems on-premise while migrating backups and archiving to the cloud—and later transition fully for maximum cost savings and flexibility.

What are the main cloud models for medical imaging?

• Public Cloud: Resources like servers and storage are owned by third-party providers (e.g., AWS) and delivered over the internet.
• Private Cloud: Infrastructure is hosted by a PACS partner, dedicated to one
• Hybrid Cloud: Combines on-premise systems with public or private cloud services, ideal for facilities with existing PACS investments.

What’s the difference between cloud-native and cloud-engineered PACS?

• Cloud-Engineered PACS: Originally built for on-premise, later adapted for cloud use.
• Cloud-Native PACS: Designed from the ground up for cloud environments, offering automatic scalability, redundancy, and faster development cycles—leading to cost savings and reliability. If you are a decision-maker in your organization looking to migrate some or all your PACS to the cloud, consult a rep for a demonstration.

What is Intelerad Cloud and what does it include?

Intelerad Cloud is a suite of tailored solutions for medical imaging facilities, including:

• Private Cloud hosting for IntelePACS + Clario
• Long-term archiving (Cloud LTA)
• Disaster recovery (Cloud DR)
• Enterprise VNA for image exchange and patient portals
• Intelerad Patient Portal for secure access

What cost savings can cloud migration deliver?

One Intelerad client saved USD 1.26 million over four years by moving from on-premise PACS to Intelerad Private Cloud. This client processes 800K+ studies annually, expects 10–15% growth, and operates 55+ radiology centers with full disaster recovery failover.

Related: Benefits and disadvantages of cloud versus onsite PACS

Who benefits most from cloud PACS solutions?

Cloud adoption is ideal for:

• Facilities needing cost-effective expansion
• Organizations prioritizing uptime and disaster recovery
• Rapidly growing networks
• Facilities with limited budgets or supply chain concerns

Why choose Intelerad as your cloud evolution partner?

Intelerad offers:

• Image exchange solutions integrated with Epic
• Vendor-neutral VNA for interoperability
• Scalable long-term archiving
• Cost-effective disaster recovery with immutable copies Partnering with Intelerad ensures reliability, performance, and a simple cost model for future-ready imaging.

If your medical imaging facility seeks a cloud evolution partner, have a look at Intelerad Cloud solutions. Book a demo today with our sales team!