The market for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) technology is moving from gold rush to replacement, while computed radiography (CR) is moving into physician practices, according to KLAS.

The Orem, Utah-based company released two reports Sunday in Chicago at the Radiological Society of North America's 95th RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting.

The report on PACS software eidentifies gaps between the scores of the highest- and lowest-performing PACS vendors.

Acute care performance scores showed a 23-point gap, with the top performer, GE Centricity PACS-IW, scoring 88.1, and the lowest performer, Cerner, scoring 65. Also, there is a 15.8-point gap between vendors in the community hospital space and a 14-point gap in the ambulatory market.

INFINITT is the best-performing community PACS vendor with a score of 87.5, and Intelerad is the leader among ambulatory PACS vendors with an 89.2 performance score.

"The New PACS Market: From Gold Rush to Replacement" is the result of more than 1,600 provider interviews covering PACS products for large hospitals, community hospitals and outpatient clinics. The report is the most comprehensive KLAS has ever undertaken, according to the company, and features performance ratings for more than three dozen products.

"In the KLAS scoring system, where a five-point spread is significant, there are huge gaps between the scores of the top-rated vendors and those at the bottom of the pack," said Ben Brown, KLAS' general manager of medical imaging and medical equipment research and author of the study.

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