Global VNA Solutions 2019
Insights from Leading Organizations

Author
Eder Lagemann

Author
Jonathan Christensen

October 29, 2019 | Read Time: 3 minutes

Outside the US, the vendor-neutral archive (VNA) market is still emerging, and even some of the most successful organizations feel their VNA vendors could do more to deliver the strategic guidance and support they need. For this study, KLAS reached out to reference sites from measured vendors to learn what is possible with VNAs today and which vendors have proven to deliver the experience and strong guidance customers need.

Note: For this research, vendors shared a list of their leading customers. As a result, the customer experiences shared in this report may not be representative of vendors’ broader VNA customer bases.

leading deployments around the globe scope and performance

Philips (Carestream), Fujifilm Deliver Proven Scalability and Breadth

Philips (who recently acquired Carestream’s Healthcare Information Solutions business) and Fujifilm have consistently proven able to scale in archive size, image types, cross-department adoption, and geographic breadth. Philips (Carestream) worked closely with reference clients during system setup and deployment, resulting in strong archives that incorporate both DICOM and non-DICOM images from a broad number of departments.

All interviewed Fujifilm clients are satisfied overall; vendor collaboration helps respondents get hoped-for results, though a few want more guidance from local partners for the more complex, technical aspects of archive setup. Fujifilm archives typically include images from only a few specialties beyond radiology and cardiology.

VISUS Health IT receives high praise from reference clients for a strong system and the way they partner and provide guidance. Respondents incorporate DICOM and non-DICOM images from a number of specialties. Notably, VISUS archives tend to be smaller, and respondents are mostly single-facility organizations located in Central Europe.

Delivery from Agfa HealthCare, Sectra & Hyland Is Inconsistent

Agfa HealthCare, Sectra, and Hyland all have region-wide deployments. Agfa and Hyland have some of the largest archives of measured vendors; Sectra is somewhat less proven in archive size (region-wide customers are still working to expand their archives). Agfa HealthCare reference clients report strong, capable technology that can scale well. No single factor brings down overall satisfaction, but varying factors (e.g., poor strategic guidance or timeliness) were mentioned by one or two clients apiece as reasons for missed expectations. Sectra reference clients are divided. Those who are more satisfied tend to have smaller deployments; more complex deployments can find it difficult to access needed expertise. Leading customers of Hyland, the vendor with the largest validated archive size in terms of data stored, experience delays. Inconsistency in customer satisfaction is driven mostly by the fact that the only organizations who receive strategic expertise are those who press Hyland for it. These issues are exacerbated by the use of local resellers.

GE Healthcare & Siemens Fall Short with Partnering

GE Healthcare is widely considered thanks to their existing market presence. While their leading customers (most of whom have midsize to large archives) are mostly satisfied with the technology and what they have achieved with it, they report support and partnership are lacking; at times, GE Healthcare overcommits or underestimates the complexity of certain setup aspects, and the engineering group is sometimes short staffed.

The Siemens VNA, acquired from a health region in Austria and deployed mostly in Europe, is a strong product that has proven to scale to archive size, and customers report the highest median number of connected specialties. Of measured vendors, Siemens is the least likely to be described by reference customers as strategic, largely due to inconsistent customization expertise. This issue is more predominant among those with local third-party implementers; these customers must escalate problems to out-of-country Siemens resources for additional guidance and support.

Mach7, Intelerad Show Promise, though Relatively Untested in Scope

The limited data on Mach7 Technologies and Intelerad suggests reference customers receive strong support for setting up the VNA and achieving intended outcomes. However, in different ways, both are somewhat untested. Most leading Intelerad customers have partnered with the vendor to help develop the VNA; they praise the vendor’s strategic partnership, willingness to listen to client input, and notable progress. Intelerad has fewer than 10 live VNA customers, all multifacility entities in Australia or Canada who were existing PACS customers; most pull in only DICOM radiology and cardiology images.

Mach7 Technologies’ reference customers are pleased with what they have achieved and feel the vendor has been strategic and on time. Mach7 is a purely third-party VNA vendor (no PACS offering), and their reference customers are some of the smallest in this research. Interviewed clients are located primarily in the Middle East and Southeast Asia; their archives include only DICOM images, pulled from a small number of specialties.

Writer
Amanda Wind Smith

Designer
Jess Wallace-Simpson

Project Manager
Sydney Toomer

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This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.