Agfa scores high in KLAS report on VNAs and viewers

Mortsel, Belgium – A report from KLAS, titled “Enterprise Imaging 2016: Early Leaders in a Growing Market” shows Agfa HealthCare’s VNA and Universal Viewer as only vendor with increased satisfaction from end-users. Moreover, the report notes that Agfa HealthCare is “having good success connecting multiple service lines with their VNA and universal viewer.”

KLAS, based in Orem, Utah, is an independent market research company that evaluates healthcare technologies through surveys and interviews with actual users.

“We are very pleased that the 2016 report from KLAS shows that our ongoing commitment to delivering innovative image information management services is bearing fruit, in increased satisfaction amongst our customers,” commented Bill Corsten (pictured), regional president, North America, Agfa HealthCare. “This report offers direct insight into real customer experiences, and demonstrates that, even as expectations from healthcare providers increase, we are able to meet their evolving needs for tools that enable collaboration, integrated care along the care continuum, population health management, and more.”

In the report released in December 2016, Agfa HealthCare customers testified to their increased levels of satisfaction with the company’s Enterprise Imaging solution, including its VNA and universal viewer.

According to the report, “Potential enterprise imaging customers are looking at Agfa HealthCare more than ever before. Agfa HealthCare’s solution is solid overall and provides decent functionality and above-average integration.”

The study also noted that Agfa HealthCare can play a clear and significant role in healthcare providers’ enterprise imaging strategies. One customer specified, “Agfa HealthCare is a major partner in our enterprise imaging strategy. We make sure our roadmaps are aligned.”

According to the company, Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging is a workflow-oriented solution. It provides all imaging applications and services on a single modern IT platform, with 64-bit architecture that enables a single integration point into the EMR.

Fast software, intuitive use, dedicated clinical tools and a powerful workflow engine maximize productivity while keeping cost of ownership low.

Going far beyond the traditional PACS, the platform supports multi-specialty collaboration, image exchange, shared working and mobility, as well as patient-focused healthcare.

The Enterprise Imaging VNA offers a robust solution for enterprise archiving of DICOM and non-DICOM data, with intelligent lifecycle management tools and maximum interoperability. It consolidates imaging data, from multiple systems, departments, facilities and vendors, into a central clinical data foundation.

Images from all patients are in one archive, and multimedia patient imaging records can be shared across the healthcare enterprise and beyond.

The KLAS report quotes a customer who explained, “Enterprise imaging with Agfa is different in that Agfa offers a platform of services. Other vendors have a VNA component and tell you that it can connect to outside components. Lots of these components are conglomerations of other vendors’ tools or workflows missing in the main system. Most vendors offer a suite of compartmentalized solutions that aren’t on the same platform. But Agfa’s product is one server and one database, and it does everything as a platform. We can turn functionality on or off by essentially checking a box.”

The XERO universal viewer – which also includes an FDA-cleared diagnostic viewer – provides secure access to imaging data from different departments and sources or multiple imaging managers, in a consolidated view. It offers enhanced viewing, clinical depth, collaboration and sharing on a single web viewer.

Images from the Agfa HealthCare Enterprise Imaging IT platform or third-party VNAs or PACS can be seen in one display.

According to the KLAS report, Agfa HealthCare is one of two vendors offering usable viewers that are fast and reliable, and noted for continually improving their solutions. “I am happy that Agfa is continuing to develop and put resources into the product to make it better,” commented one customer.

Another explained, “Enterprise Imaging XERO Viewer is great because it is web based, and it allows our radiologists to look at images from their houses. If they need to look at an image, they can just bring it right up and look at it. The system is just plain and simple to use. We just plug in a URL, and we are there.”

KLAS also researched the position of “deconstructed PACS,” which involves eliminating the PACS entirely and replacing it with the VNA and universal viewer.

KLAS commented that this concept is often brought up by “some vendors and consulting firms.” However, its own research suggests that it is far from a reality today. Feedback from healthcare organizations indicated that only 4% are actually going with a deconstructed PACS strategy and nearly 75% percent are not doing nor considering deconstructed PACS as their go-forward strategy.

A customer specified, “We have Agfa’s PACS, VNA, and XERO enterprise viewer. We feel that everything works together, and we have a setup that works really well for enterprise imaging. I don’t see us going away from our PACS; what we have done is very functional.”

Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfahealthcare.com.