This article is from in the March 2008 issue of DOTmed Business News. A list of registered users that provide sales & service can be found at the end.

The market for PACS, like the technology itself, is a dizzying constellation of resources. It's hard to say which is more complicated-the healthcare system's multiple databases of digital images and information, or the marketplace of companies offering these systems and services.

PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) includes the computers and servers, software and networks that manage medical images from all modalities. Many interfaces and applications link to PACS including technologies to convert the images to the DICOM standard, enhancement and visualization software, high-definition monitors, backup data and storage systems, relational databases, gateways and software to share and protect images, programs and applications to synch with RIS (Radiology Information Systems) and HIS (Hospital Information Systems), along with lab systems, EMR, and so on.
DOTmed estimates PACS to be about a $1 billion market. But the sector is in flux with companies merging in order to offer a full range of health IT solutions combining RIS (scheduling, referrals, reports, etc.) and PACS (medical images and associated patient information). Notably last fall GE acquired Dynamic Imaging, known for its web-based system.

"Dynamic Imaging specialized in outpatient imaging centers [OIC] and community hospitals. That was the market we always wanted to be in because our initial market was all towards academic, large enterprise [customers]," says Vijay Tanjore, Senior Marketing Manager, GE Healthcare. The company has close to 1,000 PACS sites worldwide. "Our product [their flagship is Centricity] was more sophisticated--a lot of bells and whistles--so going into OIC, it's hard to take a product and skinny it down. We wanted to really give a product that fits that market."

Another prominent example of market shuffling was the 2005 merger of software specialist Cedara with aptly named Merge Healthcare, makers of a widely used radiology workstation.

"Consolidations, acquisitions and mergers can leave customers holding the bag," cautions Douglas Dill, Director of Marketing, DR Systems, San Diego, CA. He suggests choosing a vendor that's committed to PACS and consider a cost-effective smaller PACS company.

Industry insiders report a cooling at the upper end of the market for big name systems, while opportunities abound to sell more modest solutions to medium and small hospitals, imaging centers, and individual practitioners such as orthopedists.

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