KLAS: MRI tops list for planned purchases; imaging vendors ranked
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For the report, KLAS interviewed 147 healthcare provider organizations to find out which imaging vendors they are considering. The report noted that providers most frequently mentioned MRI systems as a planned purchase over the next 24 months. Also, Siemens Healthcare and Toshiba America Medical Systems are generating the most buzz in that market thanks to the success of their wide-bore MR equipment.
“Providers have gravitated to wide-bore MR systems for their high-quality imaging plus the increased comfort they offer claustrophobic and bariatric patients,” said report author Kirk Ising, KLAS research director for medical imaging and medical equipment. “Siemens and Toshiba have clearly set the pace in that arena, while GE [Healthcare] and Philips [Healthcare] have actually lost business because of their lack of wide-bore MR offerings.”
After MR, respondents most frequently mentioned purchase plans for ultrasound, CT, digital mammography and digital x-ray (DR).
In the CT market, GE maintains the lead in mindshare, with 68 percent of providers planning to include the vendor in their purchase decisions, according to the authors. The next most-considered vendor was Siemens, followed by Toshiba and Philips. Toshiba’s position in the CT market has been boosted by the introduction of its Aquilion One CT system, which has gotten the attention of some research-heavy hospitals that have disregarded Toshiba in the past.
DR emerged as another important market segment. While GE, Siemens and Philips remain the top three vendors in provider mindshare in DR, KLAS found that Carestream Health also is gaining interest with the introduction of its DRX-1 product, a cassette-sized wireless detector.
“Many providers indicated they would consider Carestream in DR buying decisions because of the DRX-1,” Ising said.
Taken together, GE, Siemens and Philips garnered the most mentions from providers across the six market segments highlighted in the survey, maintaining the ‘Big 3’ of imaging equipment status that has earned all three companies loyalty among providers.
The report also mentioned that companies such as Shimadzu and Toshiba, along with Carestream, Fujifilm Medical Systems and Konica Minolta, have been attracting some clients away from the top vendors because of “solid technology and outstanding service.”
Other vendors profiled in the new KLAS report include Agfa HealthCare, Hitachi Medical Systems and Hologic.