Best in KLAS Ranks Top Imaging System Vendors of 2021

February 02, 2021 - TeraRecon, GE Healthcare, IBM Watson Health, Ambra, Epic, Sectra, and Philips were just some of the imaging system vendors who have topped the charts in 2021, according to the latest KLAS rankings. 

The Best in KLAS 2021 Software & Services report named Epic the top overall software suite for the eleventh year in a row, just beating out MEDITECH Expanse. The company also earned the top overall physician practice vendor, coming in several points ahead of athenahealth and NextGen Healthcare.

The Best in KLAS list is based on information obtained from nearly 2,500 interviews KLAS conducts with providers and payers each month, the report stated.

For advanced visualization, TeraRecon topped the list at 88.3 points, followed by Vital at 82.7 points, Siemens Healthcare at 79.0 points, Philips, and GE Healthcare at 71.9 points.

For cardiology imaging systems, GE Healthcare came in first at 81.4 points, while IBM Watson, Siemens, Change Healthcare, Fujifilm, and Philips followed.

Cardiology imaging systems rankings significantly differ from 2020 rankings, when Philips topped the charts, followed by Siemens, Fujifilm, IBM Watson Health, and Change Healthcare. 

Philips was also ranked first at 86.8 points for universal viewer imaging solutions.

In the report, KLAS also ranked picture archiving communication (PACS) vendors. 

PACS solutions use digital imaging and communications in medicine to store and transmit images. PACS are versatile and allow access to multiple users at any time while also ensuring data storage and security solutions. 

For large PACS vendors, Sectra landed the top spot at 90.0 points, Intelerad followed at 83.0 points, IBM Watson Health at 79.7 points, Change Healthcare at 77.2 points, Fujifilm at 76.8 points, Philips at 72.1 points, and GE Healthcare at 60.4 points. 

Last year, INFINITT fell into second place, while this year it didn’t rank at all.

For vendor-neutral archive (VNA), Fujifilm once again topped the charts with 85.4 points, while Agfa Healthcare came in second at 85.0 points after not reaching the KLAS rankings at all in 2020.

And while Philips came in second for VNA last year, it fell off the rankings completely in 2021. Meanwhile, IBM Watson Health landed third this year, Hyland landed fourth, and GE Healthcare landed fifth. 

According to a 2019 Adroit Market Research report, North America leads the regional segment for the VNA and PACS market, with a share of 28.51 percent. 

PACS represented 70 percent for the type segment of VNA and PACS market, with the key modality segments of VNA and PACS between 2012 and 2025 being digital radiology, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. 

This overall market growth has contributed to the development of healthcare infrastructure and public health awareness resulting in early disease diagnosis, researchers stated. 

The 2021 KLAS report also touched on how advanced visualization solutions compared to other imaging software solutions. TeraRecon once again ranked first with a score of 88.3 points, followed by Vital (82.7 points), Siemens (79.0 points), Philips (78.3 points), and GE Healthcare (71.9 points). 

For imaging solution vendors, the Best in KLAS report also found that:

·       IBM Watson Health topped the charts for cardiology hemodynamics. GE Healthcare, Change Healthcare, and Philips followed, respectively.

·       For image exchange solutions, Ambra once again took the first spot with 95.4 points, followed by Nuance (88.8 points), IBM Watson Health (79.5 points), and lifeIMAGE (76.8 points).

·       Epic topped the charts for oncology medical, followed by Flatiron, Elekta, Ontada, and Cerner.

·       Elekta took the top spot for oncology radiation solutions, followed by Varian. But Varian topped the charts for oncology treatment planning.

·       Dolbey, 3M MModal, and Nuance came in first, second, and third rankings for speech recognition: front-end imaging solutions.