A new report released by the IMV Medical Information Division, The PACS/IT Continuum: Present Access and Future Integration Strategies, 2010-2012, finds that replacement has become the primary motivation for purchasing newelectronic picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) in 2010, with 85% of the planned purchases of complete systems being replacement systems, compared to 15% for first buyers.
“In hospitals with 100+ beds, the adoption of PACS has clearly reached the mature stage, with very few “first buyers” of PACS systems,” observed Lorna Young, Senior Director, Market Research. “Moreover, the purchase of first buyer and replacement systems is a small portion of future PACS investments, comprising only 13% of the planned expenditures from now through 2012, while 73% of the expenditures are for expanding and upgrading their present PACS systems (with an additional 14% of expenditures potentially spent by hospitals whose respondents did not explicitly specify their PACS investment plans).”
Other highlights in the report include:
- For the 100+ bed hospitals with PACS, 84% have it implemented in multiple locations outside of their hospital, and 16% are single hospital PACS implementations.
- Overall, 93% of hospitals with 100+ beds have a Radiology Information System (RIS), which are comprised of integrated RIS/PACS systems, department-based RIS systems, and integrated RIS/HIS systems.
- The top clinical applications software types accessible from PACS desktops include CT angiography, MR angiography, mammography breast CAD and CT calcium mapping.
- Overall, 9% of the hospitals have their own dedicated 3D lab outside of radiology.
- Overall, 59% of the 100+ bed hospitals have a cardiology PACS (CPACS).
IMV's PACS/IT Continuum report is based on the responses from 314 PACS and radiology administrators/managersnationwide, whose primary hospital is a short-term general, non-Federal hospital with 100+ beds.
