Reducing Operational Costs in Medical Imaging Data Management

For pharmaceutical companies, recent research has put the median cost of single-trial drug development at $28 million. That cost almost doubles when two trials are required and can balloon to $56 million to $128 million when even more trials occur. There’s an intertwining web of reasons driving up the cost of medical research. The complexity of clinical trials and technology involved as well as an uncertain regulatory environment and a difficult geopolitical environment meet in a perfect storm that’s driving up costs . 

For instance, the FDA recently announced that the cost to file a drug using clinical data is jumping by around $300,000 in 2025 to more than $4.3 million. And recent research has shown that a single day of delay in a clinical trial can cost half a million dollars. So, it’s important to minimize costs at each step of the clinical trial process to avoid having the total cost of the project balloon past projections. 

It's not just the pharmaceutical industry; recent changes are helping to further drive up costs for academic medical centers. For healthcare leaders, no matter which part of the industry they’re in, this all means cutting down on IT expenses while still being able to accomplish the same things—or more—is crucial. 

Streamline Imaging Workflows 

One of the key areas where organizations can reduce costs is by streamlining their imaging workflows. Optimizing workflows involves automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, so that your staff is free to focus on more critical activities. Implementing standardized operating procedures (SOPs) can also help ensure consistency and reduce the chances of errors, resulting in fewer retakes and lower costs. 

When looking to automate tasks, look at issues such as frequency and simplicity. Automate tasks such as: 

Integrating an advanced imaging platform that can automate tasks like these by using containerized algorithms can drastically improve efficiency. 

Reuse data 

Particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, organizations may be sitting on gold mines in the form of previously used imaging data that still holds the potential for new insights. Given the high costs of clinical trials, the reams of imaging data they generate don’t come cheap.  

But reusing imaging data comes with its own challenges. Collecting and storing data from CROs and standardizing metadata are key to reuse. The more uniform a data set’s metadata is, the more likely it can be searched and reused, opening researchers to exploring existing data for new applications.  

Optimize Resources 

To optimize your resources and ensure teams can access what they need, when they need it, opt for a cloud-based platform that can be accessed remotely. This not only increases efficiency but can help trim overhead.  

While traditional imaging systems require a healthy investment in infrastructure for on-site data storage and management, a cloud-based imaging platform creates flexibility that allows organizations to scale up and down as needed. In fact, organizations that switch from on-premise to a cloud-based imaging solution can cut down on costs by 30%. 

Maintain Provenance 

When employees leave, there’s always a chance their data disappears with them. That’s because some data may be kept offline on laptops or other locations where they can’t be accessed by the rest of the team. 

Investing in a platform that offers data provenance means you can reproduce that data later on, if needed. This will give intel into the origin of data and any changes made to it so that you can replicate results—and won’t have to go back to the drawing board, incurring added costs. 

Keeping costs down involves ensuring there’s as little downtime as possible, and this goes beyond the equipment and software used. Invest in cross-training to ensure your people can do multiple jobs.  

Embrace Collaboration 

When the cost of traditional on-site research becomes too high, teleradiology offers a way to reduce costs of medical imaging management. With teleradiology, organizations can outsource imaging interpretation to radiologists who may be based in different locations. This reduces the need for on-site radiologists to conduct reader studies, lowering salary and operational costs.  

For instance, one pharmaceutical company has used the Flywheel medical imaging platform to outsource readers, who then annotate images and send them back to an in-house expert for review and approval within the same platform. This allows the company to complete reader studies in minutes rather than hours, which has saved them up to $9 million on an imaging study. 

Centralize Imaging Data Storage and Sharing 

Storing and sharing medical images can be expensive if it isn’t managed efficiently. Utilizing a centralized Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) can help standardize storage procedures and reduce redundant data.  

While a PACS allows for easy access and retrieval of images, it may not support image sharing and analysis across different facilities. A system that can ingest data from multiple sources such as Flywheel can help organizations remove data silos by allowing for secure remote access, so collaborators can get to data faster, accelerating research and increasing cost efficiency.  

Implementing Cost-Cutting Measures With One Platform 

Reducing operational costs in medical imaging management takes a strategic approach that pulls in competing needs from multiple teams, such as making data available for remote access while maintaining security and compliance and minimizing data movement. 

Flywheel was founded by people who cut their teeth in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. We know what goes into robust imaging data management and built those features right into our medical imaging data management platform to help organizations across healthcare and life sciences do more with their imaging data while keeping ballooning costs down. 

For those looking to reduce costs in imaging data management, Flywheel offers: 

Plus, our customizable approach with API connectivity, software development kits, and implementation and training from our professional services team means you can tailor your Flywheel instance to your needs.  

What cost-cutting measures around imaging data management is your organization looking to implement? Schedule time to speak with one of our experts so we can learn more about your needs—and help you maximize your imaging data (while minimizing costs) with Flywheel.