HBS TekPlus believes that the major drivers in the PACS market include:

• Cost of Electronic Storage and Data Transfer Decreasing
• Hospital CEOs Aware of PACS Solutions
• Speedier and Improved Diagnostic Capabilities of PACS
• Deployment of Film-Less Environments Attracting the Best Recruits
• Ageing Population - higher throughput of patients requiring scans and storage of image information
• PACS, New Market Opportunities Outside the Hospital

PACS solutions have the potential to deliver huge benefits to patients and hospital employees alike; however there are some challenges to overcome to ensure full benefits are enabled, Dr. Mitul Mehta of TekPlus states, 'PACS solutions are becoming easier to utilise, help reduce imaging costs and imaging faults and increase patient throughput but can only be successfully enabled if vendors deliver effective training, matching the needs of healthcare provider with PACS solutions that mirror work practices of the non-PACS world.' It takes time to migrate to a true PACS solutions so healthcare providers must use the old and new solution in parallel, Mehta continues, 'a big bang approach to deploying PACS solutions is a risky strategy, people need time to get used to new solutions and you need a back-up system for the hospital to fall back on should things go wrong and for teething problems to be eradicated.'

HBS TekPlus also sheds light on the most important issues impacting the PACS market in North America Europe; it include:

• Difficulty in radiological departments justifying the cost of PACS solution deployment
• Lack of skills within hospitals to manage, store, locate and transfer images and securely
• HIPAA compliance

The healthcare provider market requires more expertise and knowledge than purely in the provision of PACS solutions. In order for the true potential of PACS to be developed, vendors taping into the healthcare IT market that aim to be successful will be those that are able to bring knowledge and expertise from other vertical markets but adding a new twist to tackle a market heavily impacted by government intervention. Creating partnerships, delivering new levels of support and service level agreements to healthcare customers will become the bedrock for achieving long-term presence and dominance in the delivery of IHCS solutions.

The report on North America and European PACS market by HBS TekPlus is designed to help you answer the taxing questions that will hit your bottom-line, whether you are inside or outside the HIS/IHCS market. Our report discusses how HIS will evolve into an IHCS solution and how vendors could tackle this market. This forecast report not only delivers a broad quantitative analysis of the market in question but also provide strategic advice and recommendations for companies to capitalise on the changing direction of the said market.