Abstract
Research Overview
Customised Individual Solutions Required to Combat Complexities in PACS Installation
Increasing emphasis on improving the workflow in the radiology departments of
healthcare institutions in Europe has led to greater demand for picture
archiving and communication systems (PACS) due to their ability to digitise
the imaging process and archive the images. Currently, with the installation
of radiology information systems (RIS) on parallel tracks with PACS, the
technical profile of generic PACS is becoming increasingly complex.
Simultaneously, the installation of local and wide area networks (LAN and WAN)
to provide adequate bandwidth and essential archiving has augmented existing
complexities. Hence, vendors will need to produce fully integrated
workstations that offer a consistent user-interface for all the modalities.
Despite the standardisation provided by the digital communication in medicine
(DICOM) platform, gaining a competitive edge in the market will depend on
vendors' ability to offer customised individual solutions.
Vendors to Reduce Organisational Costs to Protect Profit Margins
With PACS becoming a mainstream application, end users' demands for customised
solutions and their requests for proposal (RFP) have increased. Vendors will
need to deal with each PACS installation on an individual basis, which is
likely to reduce the economies of scale.
As differing tiers of healthcare institutions (such as small clinics and
diagnostic treatment centres) are installing PACS, large vendors in the market
are faced with competition from small, local vendors that have the advantage
of reduced internal cost structures. "Hence, companies that manage their
internal cost structures and organisational costs most effectively will be
able to offer greater functionality at competitive prices without narrowing
profit margins," notes the analyst of the research service. "This will ensure
the conversion of unit shipment growth into a corresponding rise in revenues."
Additionally, large and more established vendors should remain flexible to
respond to varying customer needs.
Technological Advances to Fuel the Uptake of PACS Solutions
"Technological advances such as improvements in individual PACS components
have created improvised workstations, which assist the process of optimising
workflow", says the analyst. "This is likely to be enhanced with the advent of
voice-recognition technology (VRT), which can be incorporated into PACS to
create efficiencies in radiology reporting, dictation and transcription
processes."
Further, vendors have broadened the workstation portfolio to adjust the level
of specification for each product to develop a clear distinction between
primary diagnosis, secondary and tertiary review. Consequently, the process of
equipping hospital enterprises with PACS is likely to be less
capital-intensive since low-end tertiary review stations can be installed in
locations such as the emergency wards. This is likely to lead to significant
cost savings to end users, thereby fuelling the uptake of PACS solutions.
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