Healthcare Providers Demand Feedback about Computed Radiography Technology

Single-cassette, also known as single-plate, computed radiography (CR) technology has recently been evaluated in a groundbreaking study: the result of healthcare provider demands for feedback on direct user experiences with CR systems and vendors.

CR equipment is a sizable market because of picture archiving and communication system (PACS) technology and the possible prohibitive costs associated with digital radiography (DR) systems. According to a recent report by Klas (New York, NY, USA), almost 60% of the images acquired in hospitals come from X-rays. Converting X-ray images to digital media for image capture and storage is a way for radiology departments and imaging centers to enhance workflow efficiency and control long-term cost.

Some healthcare facilities are unable to justify the jump to DR in the face of technology limitations and budgetary constraints. These facilities may consist of smaller output clinics, rural hospitals, or radiology departments with low volumes. In these cases, the interim step of CR is a viable alternative and comprises a significant portion of the radiography equipment available on today's market.

For this study, Klas spoke with more than 140 individual healthcare professionals for feedback about the products and vendors they utilize to reveal the strengths and weaknesses in the market. Respondents rated their products and vendors with an average performance score of 88 out of 100. Among the questions, Klas asked were whether providers felt that they received their money's worth, if CR implementation was within budget, and if the support costs for CR were as expected, since cost is a large factor in the decision to utilize CR systems.

Vendors included in this report are Agfa (Mortsel, Belgium), Carestream (Rochester, NY, USA), Fujifilm (Valhala, NY, USA), Konica (Tokyo, Japan), Philips (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), and Radlink (Redondo Beach, CA, USA).

Klas is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. Working together with executives from over 4,500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, Klas provides reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry.


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