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Providers Move Toward Single Vendor for Radiology IT Solutions

64% of organizations currently use a single vendor approach for radiology IT solutions, and 71% consider this the preferred approach, a new survey shows.

Radiology IT Solutions

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By Samantha McGrail

- More healthcare organizations are using a single vendor for radiology IT solutions, with a majority of providers currently using or hoping to implement a single vendor approach, according to a report from Reaction Data, Inc.

The industry brief from Reaction Data received survey responses from over 900 organizations over four years, including 164 from October 2019. The survey looked at what is being done now and what radiology departments will continue to do to ensure success in the future. 

In terms of study volumes, the largest segment of the radiology market continues to be organizations doing between 100,000 and 250,000 studies annually (22 percent), the report highlighted. Almost one-fifth of respondents reported that they are doing between 5,000 and 25,000, and close to 15 percent are performing over 750,000 annual studies.

Overall, these organizations are moving more toward a single vendor approach for radiology IT solutions, rather than a deconstructed picture archiving and communication system (PACS), the report showed. 

As of October 2019, 64 percent of organizations use a single vendor approach over a deconstructed PACS, or best-in-breed, approach. Additionally, 71 percent of organizations leaned toward a single use vendor approach.

The best-in-breed approach to radiology IT solution implementation has decreased in popularity, the report showed. The approach was most popular in 2017 when 38 percent of organizations identified it as their preferred radiology IT configuration. However, popularity dipped in recent years, with just 28 percent in 2018 and 29 percent in 2019 favoring the approach.

“I am in a region that has a variety of PACS solutions and varying HIS systems in the process of converting the entire region to a single HIS. The next stage in 3-5 years will be to adopt a single PACS across the region. The present fragmented system of multiple PACS and HIS vendors that do not communicate well with each other is detrimental to the patient as information sharing at times is delayed,” an imaging director explained in the report.

In the single vendor space, GE Healthcare was the leading single vendor, with 18 percent of organizations using the vendor. Change Healthcare and IBM had similar market shares, with 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Reaction Data also pointed out that Visage, the deconstructed PACS vendor, has begun to make inroads in the single vendor approach category. On the other hand, Change Healthcare (McKesson) was reported as the leading best-of-breed vendor for both PACS and viewer, while IBM (Merge) took the lead for VNA. 

While organizations plan to continue with a single vendor approach in the future, providers should anticipate new technologies from emerging vendors. The report found that 16 percent of emerging technology organizations plan to acquire artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. About 16 percent also plan to acquire clinical decision support tools.

Almost as popular was imaging sharing. Approximately 15 percent of emerging technology organizations expect to acquire imaging sharing capabilities in the future.

Other capabilities emerging technology organizations plan to acquire according to the report include:

  • Analytics (15 percent)

  • Enterprise imaging (12 percent)

  • Cloud architecture (9 percent)

  • Integration solutions (9 percent)

  • Zero footprint viewer (6 percent)

Radiology departments nationwide have been adopting various technology in order to advance their systems, including artificial intelligence. In May of this year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and radiology groups released a guideline for translational research on AI in medical imaging. 

“Radiology has transformed the practice of medicine in the past century, and AI has the potential to radically impact radiology in positive ways,” said Krishna Kandarpa, MD, PHD, co-author of the roadmap and director of research sciences and strategic directions at NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). 

The roadmap found that AI in medical imaging could impact the whole radiology process, from clinician decision-making and diagnostic imaging to preparation of patients for different procedures. AI tools observed by the groups include algorithms for disease detection, image optimization, radiation reduction, and workflow enhancement.

The roadmap also found that AI could be a potential answer to clinical challenges by performing algorithms to minimize unintended bias. The expansion of the healthcare space will allow collaborations between practicing clinicians and AI researchers to advance research for AI in medical imaging. 

But AI still has a way to go before really impacting medical imaging and radiology, Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, Eugene P. Pendergrass Professor and chair of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and vice president and DxCP task force chair at the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research explained. 

“It will take a true public-private partnership to realize the tremendous potential contribution of AI to transform medical imaging, and this roadmap is the first step in that direction,” he said.