PACS Integration with EMRs Major Concern of Hospitals

Vendors of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) will need to integrate their products to as many of their customers' electronic medical record (EMR) systems as they can in order to prosper, according to healthcare market research.

Market research publisher Kalorama Information's (New York, NY, USA) latest report foresees that this market, which reached US$1.46 billion in 2010, will continue to grow by double digits annually through 2015.

Most crucial patient care decisions today involve a medical image, and increasingly these images need to be digitized so they can be incorporated into EMRs. PACS enable X-rays and images to be viewed and stored electronically. As hospitals increasingly rely on sophisticated EMR systems for connecting and integrating all their patients' data into one accessible system, they will need compatible PACS.

"We see that customers are becoming pickier about which PACS they will use for managing their digital medical images and are demanding interoperability," noted Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information. "No longer will they accept a product that is not flexible and compatible with other parts of their vast patient data management systems."

To accomplish these goals, the report indicated that PACS needed to deliver a comprehensive suite of embedded clinical tools and be able to integrate seamlessly with EMRs and health information exchanges. Currently, PACS can link with some radiology information systems (RIS), which are databases of patient radiologic information. However, most EMRs are unable to incorporate images, according to Kalorama. They typically have an image viewer, but it is patient specific and must pull images from separate PACS, and if the systems are not compatible, issues will arise.

Many smaller healthcare facilities still use film, since the high cost of implementing digital systems has impeded their adoption. Traditional film X-ray systems have a price tag of $20,000 to $80,000, while digital systems can cost from $180,000 to $500,000. Nonetheless, PACS are becoming an imperative, particularly in large high volume settings, according to the report.

Kalorama Information supplies the latest in independent market research in the life sciences, as well as a full range of custom research services.

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