Exploring Regional Data in the European PACS Market
In the past when it comes to imaging in Europe, KLAS has published broad performance reports and at least one UK-specific PACS report. But, in our latest Europe PACS 2022 report, we were able to take a more detailed approach. It is our first European PACS report with a focus on more specific regional data on how vendors are meeting customer needs in the various European subregions.
The report should be useful for those who want to know more about the landscape of the European PACS market. We hope it will be especially helpful for our provider friends in Europe who are currently making decisions about who their go-forward PACS vendor will be.
The Current Imaging Market
Within the European market, there is a desire to advance healthcare technology in general. Many healthcare organizations are also pushing for more consolidated systems. This consolidation has been happening with EMR systems, but it is also a focus for imaging solutions both across facilities and within organizations as they try to implement one imaging solution across multiple departments. Enterprise imaging strategies are a key consideration as organizations make decisions about their go-forward PACS vendor.
As organizations make decisions about their PACS vendors, it creates more volatility in the market. For example, entire countries like Wales and Scotland in the UK are looking at replacing their PACS vendor right now as they look for a vendor partner who can best help to advance their imaging strategy. Several larger vendors’ customers are also leaving and looking for a new solution. On top of that, some vendors like Merative (IBM Watson Healthcare) and Change Healthcare are investing more into expanding in Europe because there are a lot of opportunities. That means there is a lot of opportunity for disruption.
We should also note that the European market is pretty fragmented between the many different countries, with each having their own local vendors along with the bigger players. We highlighted some local vendors where it was possible to start digging into some of that complexity, though more work still needs to be done.
Why Read the Latest Europe PACS Report?
As we mentioned, this report focuses on more regional data regarding how vendors meet their customers’ needs in various subregions. These specific insights will help providers see how different vendors perform compared to others in their regions. There are vendors that may be doing very well in one region but, for specific reasons, not meeting needs in another region. The below chart shows how we’ve broken out the various subregions in Europe. Each subregion has a specific vendor performance spotlight in the report, and we encourage you to read it for more details.
Many providers also want to know which vendors can best support their enterprise or consolidated regional strategy. This report helps answer how vendors are performing within that movement.
Finally, this report can help give a sense of market presence and show the vendors that have live clients in specific countries. Though KLAS is still expanding research in Europe, the report still offers a good landscape of the current market.
A Glance at Some Multiregional Vendors
There are some noteworthy mentions of what is happening with some of the multiregional vendors. Sectra has seen a lot of energy with the move for more consolidation. Thanks to this and the strong partnerships and technology they provide, they have grown significantly across most regions in Europe.
VISUS is a high performer in the regions where they have a presence. They were recently acquired by CompuGroup Medical, a larger German healthcare IT company. It remains to be seen whether the acquisition will affect the positive customer experience.
Agfa HealthCare initially faced stability issues across Europe as they rolled out their new enterprise imaging platform, but they've done a lot of work to make it a lot more stable for their customers and are gaining more traction because of that. Due to the sale of a portion of their IT business to Dedalus, Agfa HealthCare does not currently operate in France and the DACHL region.
Philips acquired Carestream in 2019, which significantly added to their presence in Europe. They also deliver strongly on their technology. Their customer relationships vary across European subregions.
Continuing to Research
This report is an awesome expansion of KLAS’ data and insights in Europe, but we can learn even more as we get more feedback. We have a pretty good overview of what's happening with imaging vendors in areas like the UK. But in some regions, we still need more transparency into all the vendors’ performances. This includes getting more feedback about local vendors.
Please reach out to KLAS if you use a different vendor who is not represented in this report. We would love to work with you to further our research in this area. In the meantime, we recommend reading the report to learn more.