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Healthcare Organizations Looking to ReapEven More from New Generation PACS  By Nadim Daher Senior Industry Analyst Frost & Sullivan  The Second Chapter Healthcare organizations are definitely ready for the second chapter of the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) story, according to North American Radiology PACS and RIS-PACS Markets (2009), a market research study published by our business research and consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan. In 2008, revenues for the implementation of replacement PACS hit $549.5 million, while revenues for new "green-field" PACS totaled $352.5 million. The market for replacement PACS is expected to grow 6.8% by 2015, while the market for first-time PACS installations is slated to decrease by 2.7%, according to our Frost & Sullivan research. Initially, healthcare organizations were satisfied with the cost savings that came from the elimination of film-based imaging. Now, however, organizations are ready to turn the page and are looking for PACS to help them work more productively and, at the same time, support a higher standard of care. Building Better Systems As a result, vendors are building advanced PACS to act less like supporting characters and more like full-fledged protagonists. Instead of merely serving as an imaging storage system, PACS now are thought of as fully integrated, real-time radiology services that include multiple imaging modalities, radiology information system (RIS) integration, document scanning, voice dictation, enterprisewide distribution capabilities, and wide-area access outside the healthcare enterprise via the Internet. As such, the story is no longer so much about the elimination of film but about leveraging advanced PACS to radically improve productivity as well as clinical care by: More cost efficiently managing the distribution of imaging studies across the entire enterprise. PACS now are expanding to multiple sites in ways that were not possible before. So instead of each individual provider location or department managing its own PACS, healthcare enterprises can more cost efficiently manage a PACS from a centralized location. In addition, management of the PACS technology itself can be centralized and operated much more cost efficiently. Increasing clinical productivity. Helping clinicians, particularly radiologists, work more efficiently is likely to result in some cost savings as well. Consider the following: If a PACS reduces report turnaround time by just a few percent, organizations are apt to save substantial dollars as radiologists can process more imaging studies in a reduced amount of time. Integration between PACS and RIS also is poised to help improve clinician productivity. Such integration helps to streamline scheduling and reporting. For example, when integrated, a RIS will not only direct a radiologist to read a certain image at a certain time but will also provide the radiologist with a workflow for the entire reading process with no need to log in and out of multiple systems. Improving patient care. Talk of electronic health records – and their "meaningful use" – is running rampant in the industry. Although the stimulus requirements do not mandate that EHRs carry images, the inclusion of images in a medical record certainly can help physicians make better clinical decisions. When physicians have access to a complete longitudinal patient record, that includes present and past imaging studies, they will have the information that's needed to make better clinical decisions. And, in the final analysis, more informed decisions are likely to lead to better care and outcomes. Nadim Daher is a senior industry analyst with the Frost & Sullivan North American Healthcare Practice. He focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market dynamics in the medical imaging and imaging informatics industry in North America. Since joining Frost & Sullivan in February 2006, Daher has specialized in radiology and cardiology imaging informatics, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), advanced (3D/4D) visualization, imaging equipment markets, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, and the general medical imaging market landscape. He holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering, medical imaging from the University of Southern California.
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