Mobility, Penetration, and Image Quality Distinguish Ultrasound Vendors

    OREM, UT, July 10, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Quality, timely, and cost-effective images are a high priority for healthcare providers looking to offer better patient care. A new KLAS study titled "Ultrasound 2012: Technology Improved, Usage Amplified" finds that ultrasound vendors who respond well to provider needs and market changes--including expansions in range of use and growing volumes--receive higher satisfaction scores. For the research, providers rate vendor performance in a wide range of scanning areas, including anesthesia/OR, breast, cardiac, emergency department, ICU/NICU, interventional, OB/GYN, oncology, ortho/MSK, pediatrics, and urology. Across the board, except in pediatric scans, Philips is the leader. For ortho/MSK and urology scans, GE scores well, and Siemens leads for oncology and urology scans.

Providers project that ultrasound volumes will increase overall, especially for breast scanning and in the emergency department, because ultrasound has no dose and costs less than other imaging modalities. For breast scanning, providers rate Philips, GE, and Toshiba as the leaders. Customers of Philips and GE also report satisfaction with their vendor's efforts to create better breast imaging applications. ZONARE and Siemens are falling behind the breast imaging pack.

Hot-button areas such as ergonomics, penetration, mobility, and image quality are measured in the study. Providers who need to move their ultrasound around the hospital are most concerned with the mobility of a unit, and some note having to trade off between penetration and mobility.

Ben Brown, the imaging research director and author of the report, stated, "ZONARE is the undisputed leader in mobility for this study, but they lack penetration. Because of its mobility, the z.one lends itself to the emergency department environment or on-the-go bedside imaging. Lack of penetration can hinder the image quality on larger patients, though. On the other hand, the Philips iU22 is a larger unit that is more difficult to move around, but it leads with excellent penetration. Providers tend to overlook the size of the iU22 because they love the image quality."

GE was the only vendor to have a consistently high score across the four technology performance areas of ergonomics, penetration, mobility, and image quality. For Siemens, the penetration is solid, but the ergonomics and mobility scores run below average. Toshiba also struggles with mobility and is average in the other three areas.

To learn more about the ultrasound market, the report "Ultrasound 2012: Technology Improved, Usage Amplified" is available to healthcare providers online for a significant discount. Providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com/KLASreports to purchase the report online. Providers can share their ultrasound performance experiences with KLAS at www.KLASresearch.com/eval.

About KLAS
KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting on the performance of healthcare vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve healthcare delivery by independently measuring vendor performance worldwide for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from more than 4,500 hospitals and 2,500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics that provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, medical equipment, and infrastructure vendors. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email [email protected], or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KLASresearch.

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