Report: 3 insights from the European Congress of Radiology 2018

The European Society of Radiology’s (ESR) annual meeting—the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2018—wrapped up on March 4^th in Vienna. Signify Research, a healthcare consulting company published its takeaways in a March 12 report from  Steve Holloway, principal analyst at the company.

Here are three takeaways:

1. Market stagnation has hurt the bottom line

Focus shifted from new software in 2017 to this year’s emphasis on workflow tools and operational efficiency. This likely was a result of healthcare networks growing larger and care models shifting toward value-based measures and payment structures.

For many vendors this move has hurt revenue gains, and many are looking for new revenue opportunities. While vendor neutral archives (VNA) provided short-term upside, it seems the idea of VNA outside of radiology came too quickly for the European market, Holloway wrote.

“While in principle some products have enabled cross-departmental collaboration, all too often solutions have under delivered when it comes to integration and technical capability,” Holloway wrote. “Ultimately, both have also provided limited upside for PACS vendors as new growth segments,” he added.

2. PACS vendors may have found a new revenue stream

PACS vendors are increasingly focused on securing existing clients and helping improve their provision of care through operational workflow tools, practice management software and radiologist workflow tools.

“While software tools and bolt-on modules offer some new revenue growth opportunity, there is an even juicier prize for the larger more established firms—professional services,” Holloway wrote.

As value-based care continues to grow, risk-sharing contracts based on outcomes will increase opening a larger market for vendors.

“The growing focus on workflow and operational tools is thus both a protectionist measure for installed base, but ultimately a push for a bigger pot of revenue too,” according to Holloway.

3. This transition should benefit providers and patients too

Although this seems like a one-sided gain for vendors, Holloway argues the shift will benefit patients and providers too.

IT companies will need to achieve three things to gain access to this revenue: 1. As healthcare networks become more complex, vendors will need to work harder to create interoperable software to interact will multi-vendor environments. 2. Vendors will be held more accountable for poor software, which will be written into contracts. 3. The transition should improve radiology department workflows and in-turn benefit patients.

“For once, it seems that this will be a shift in market direction that could provide a win-win for both healthcare providers and vendors – assuming the right balance of operational gains for providers and improved balance sheets for vendors can be found,” Holloway wrote.