The U.S. market for PACS and RIS combined is expected to grow to $3 billion by the year 2010, according to a market report by Millennium Research Group (MRG). The growth will come due to wider use of PACS outside of radiology, doctor utilization of softcopy images, wider deployment of electronic medical records, and hospitals seeking to grow and manage volume, the MRG said.

Within the PACS industry, recent acquisitions also have had a huge impact on vendor competition. “In 2005, the competitive landscape of the cardiology PACS market changed dramatically as a result of the acquisitions of Camtronics Medical Systems, Heartlab, and MedCon by Emageon, AGFA, and McKesson, respectively,” said David Plow, analyst, MRG. “While it is too early to evaluate the full impact of these developments, it is evident that cardiology has become a focus for leading PACS vendors and that the market will become increasingly competitive over the forecast period.”

For more information regarding the US Markets for PACS and RIS 2006,visit to www.mrg.net.