by
Barbara Kram, Editor | April 13, 2009
"Once imaging centers started to feel the real financial effects from the [DRA], PACS became an efficiency tool that they could not live without," Petracci said.
While the PACS market at large university institutions is saturated, many smaller hospitals under 200 beds, and critical access hospitals, represent a relatively untapped market for new PACS adoptions.
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"The vast majority of market opportunity right now is in the smaller community hospitals, outpatient imaging centers and physicians' offices that are digitizing their operations, bringing imaging into the fold and trying to provide optimal service to the referring physicians," said Brad Levin, Senior Marketing Manager, Dynamic Imaging Solutions, GE Healthcare. The company leads the market with more than 1,000 PACS sites worldwide. He noted that PACS and teleradiology expand prospects for imaging center radiologists, who by necessity are business people as well as doctors.
"What they are doing is not just reading for the local hospitals, they are broadening their horizons with their technology to be able to take on additional reading responsibilities for non-traditional referring opportunities outside of their community," Levin said.
Less entrepreneurial clinicians who have yet to adopt PACS are missing out on those opportunities to expand their clinical reach.
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Siemens' Primo noted, "In the diagnostic imaging centers you will see that reports are being dictated, transcribed and then faxed to the referring physician. Not so many have adopted distribution of electronic images and electronic reports, filmless and paperless over the Internet. So there is still considerable market there. But before people make investments these days, they probably will be very careful and watch what is happening with the economy before they expand into these new technologies."
Replacement Market Predominates
Although segmenting the market has unearthed opportunities for new PACS adoptions, the thrust of the industry is toward replacement of first or even second-generation systems.
