IMV: Peripherals, upgrades dominate mature PACS market

The PACS market has reached maturity with the lion's share of the market moving from purchasing to upgrading, according to a report issued last week by marketing research and consulting firm IMV Medical Information Division. For many facilities, investment plans through 2012 are focused on expansions in image storage capacity and network/bandwidth infrastructure, deployment of additional workstations and flat screen monitors and investments in wireless networking and advanced visualization software.

Based on the responses of 314 PACS and radiology administrators across the U.S., IMV's PACS/IT Continuum Report has been leveraged to represent the 2,420 short-term general hospitals that have 100+ beds. According to the Greenbelt, Md.-based firm, 73 percent of PACS expenditures lie in expansion and upgrading through 2012. 

The report, which analyzes present and future PACS implementation strategies, ascertained that anticipated PACS purchases represent only 13 percent of future PACS investments (with an additional 14 percent of expenditures potentially spent by hospitals whose respondents did not specify their PACS investment plans).

Of the 13 percent of PACS investments, 85 percent will be for replacement systems, compared to the 15 percent that are comprised of first time buyers, as the report noted that PACS adoption has reached “the mature stage."

In addition to the aforementioned areas, the report also noted:

• 84 percent of hospitals have PACS implemented in multiple locations outside of their hospital, and 16 percent are single hospital PACS implementations.
• Overall, 93 percent of hospitals have a RIS.
• The top clinical applications software types accessible from PACS desktops include CT angiography, MR angiography, mammography breast CAD and CT calcium mapping.
• Overall, 9 percent of hospitals have a dedicated 3D lab outside of radiology.
• Overall, 59 percent of hospitals have a cardiology PACS.