KLAS: Market seeing shift from CR to DR, both perform well

In search of minimum downtime and extensive customer service, providers rank single-plate CR higher than multi-plate, while tending to prefer DR to CR, according to a report released by the Orem, Utah healthcare market research and consulting firm KLAS.

Providers awarded the top spots to Agfa (Mortsel, Belgium) for single-plate CR and Konica Minolta (Tokyo) for multi-plate CR, with scores of 90.2 and 89.6, out of 100, respectively. However, providers ranked Agfa’s 85-X, along with the Philips Corado, as the least reliable multi-plate CR systems.

"Providers using CR told us they just want it to run,” said Emily Crane, director of medical equipment research for KLAS and an author of the report.

Overall, vendors performed quite well for both CR and DR. "The CR market is extremely tight. The five ranked single-plate vendors span a less than five point margin and the lowest score is an 86.5, which is excellent when compared with performance of vendors in other medical equipment segments," continued Crane.

According to the report, Winning with Service and Reliability: CR Review 2011, even with the increasing shift toward DR, both the CR and DR markets remain strong.

Around the web

The new technology shows early potential to make a significant impact on imaging workflows and patient care. 

Richard Heller III, MD, RSNA board member and senior VP of policy at Radiology Partners, offers an overview of policies in Congress that are directly impacting imaging.
 

The two companies aim to improve patient access to high-quality MRI scans by combining their artificial intelligence capabilities.