With expertise in managing the imaging workflow and working with DICOM, PACS vendors are serious contenders to provide enterprise archive management middleware to manage data objects and information around PACS. Enterprise PACS implementations generated over three quarters of the total radiology PACS market revenues in 2005, signaling the decisive expansion of the traditional boundaries of PACS.
For instance, GE Healthcare’s portfolio includes all the necessary ‘pieces’ to provide a comprehensive archive management solution around PACS, especially since the acquisition of IDX. However, as is common among large vendors, the various components do not constitute an integrated solution at this time. At the opposite end of the competitive landscape, smaller entrepreneurial companies such as ScImage have developed their PACS architecture from the ground-up as an enterprise-wide platform that manages diverse clinical data.
Perhaps the two most noticeable offerings from PACS vendors, however, come from McKesson Medical Imaging and Emageon (the Clinical Content Manager component of their Enterprise Visual Medical System). Coincidentally, McKesson and Emageon are the two single vendors that have demonstrated the most impressive performance in the PACS market in the past year, the former becoming the second largest player in the radiology PACS market, the latter the fastest growing company and a decisive “Major League” player. Going forward, the recent acquisitions of cardiology informatics providers Medcon and Camtronics, respectively, would allow the two companies to take the concept a step further.
Market Insights: By Nadim Daher, Medical Imaging Market Analyst – Frost & Sullivan
July 25, 2024 
