Latin America PACS 2021
A Region-Specific Look at Customer Satisfaction

Global Players Philips (Carestream), Fujifilm & Agfa HealthCare Have Broad Presence; Pixeon & MV Expand Their Regional Footprint

Philips Vue PACS (acquired from Carestream in 2019) has been the most widely considered platform in recent decisions in Latin America and has grown significantly in the region in recent years, especially in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. The platform’s scalability is a key differentiator and makes Vue PACS the most common choice among large imaging organizations (500,000+ studies per year). Fujifilm is leveraged in multiple countries across Latin America, giving them a footprint that is broad though somewhat shallow (small number of customers per country). Agfa HealthCare’s new Enterprise Imaging for Radiology platform has garnered significant interest among Agfa’s legacy IMPAX customers. Many in Spanish-speaking Latin America, who had a more positive experience with IMPAX, have chosen to migrate to the new platform; net new organizations have also expressed interest. In Brazil, most IMPAX customers have left for other vendors, citing a poor experience with IMPAX as a top reason; a few have migrated to Agfa’s new platform. Two Brazilian vendors have recently expanded into other Spanish-speaking countries—Pixeon has made inroads into Argentina via a local reseller; MV has expanded into countries where they already have a limited EMR presence. GE Healthcare has been replaced by many customers in Latin America in recent years, and KLAS was not able to find enough clients in Brazil or Spanish-speaking Latin America for the vendor to be rated in this report.

Pixeon Significantly Outperforms Competitors in Brazil Thanks to High Value and Solid Relationships

Poor Relationships Reduce Perceived Value, Strength of MV & Philips (Carestream) Products

MV’s VIVACE solution meets most of customers’ functionality needs and is often priced attractively for existing EMR clients. Recent development has resulted in improved functionality. Overall satisfaction with the product is dampened by weaker clinician usability, which customers say is exacerbated by weaker training and slow support (resolving support tickets can require much back and forth with MV’s resources). Philips’ highly scalable Vue PACS is noted for its outstanding usability and strong functionality. Gaps in the customer experience are largely relationship issues—customers say the local support lacks resources to support upgrades and resolve problems. Most customers of Philips IntelliSpace PACS, which is no longer promoted as the go-forward option, say they will consider moving to Vue PACS. Agfa HealthCare’s customer base in Brazil has shrunk significantly over the past five years as negative experiences have caused many IMPAX customers to leave for other vendors. The few that have migrated to Enterprise Imaging for Radiology are now supported wholly by Dedalus, who acquired aspects of Agfa’s HIT portfolio earlier in 2020. While these clients report an improved experience, weaker support has impacted perceptions of value.

Agfa HealthCare’s New Platform Leads Spanish-Speaking Market

Adopted by small to midsized organizations, Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging for Radiology has been warmly received in Spanish-speaking Latin America. Directly or together with various local reseller partners, Agfa has delivered very well. Implementations have earned near-perfect ratings—customers say implementations are structured and managed well and there is continuity between the implementation and support staffs. Migrating to a new platform is not without challenges, and Agfa addresses this by providing strong training. Additionally, the new platform is viewed as an improvement over IMPAX in terms of usability and functionality. Many remaining IMPAX customers plan to migrate to Agfa’s new platform within the next few years, but some plan to explore their options. These customers say Agfa needs to prove they can scale the positive experience with Enterprise Imaging for Radiology across a broader customer base.

Inconsistent Relationships a Struggle for Philips (Carestream) and Fujifilm Customers; Pixeon Takes First Steps Outside Brazil

Philips Vue PACS has broad adoption and consideration in Spanish-speaking Latin America. The solution is reliable, has little downtime, and is particularly noted for its high degree of usability, which helps customers get up and running quickly. Philips’ support is able to quickly and easily resolve smaller challenges. For larger issues, customers feel they have to drive the follow-up and resolution themselves. Fujifilm’s functionality meets most needs, and the solution is viewed as highly usable. While acknowledging good tactical support (the local support personnel and technicians—provided via reseller—are described as friendly and helpful), customers feel Fujifilm is not consistent at providing more strategic engagement. Sometimes customers have transparency into Fujifilm’s vision and get quick problem resolution; at other times, the vendor is not proactive and fails to own problems. This issue also impacts integration ratings, as customers feel they have to push Fujifilm to resolve hurdles integrating with hardware, VNAs, and EMRs. Through a reseller in Argentina, Pixeon has now expanded their PACS footprint outside of Brazil. Customers like the product but note that some support, implementation, and training challenges still need to be ironed out.