Tim Kearns explains growth of enterprise imaging in the small to mid-size hospital market

Enterprise imaging has mainly been a health IT solution for large hospital systems, but it is now making inroads into smaller and midsized hospitals. Konica Minolta has provided radiology picture archiving and communication systems for this segment and is now expanding in its traditional market space with the recent launch of its Exa Enterprise imaging system.

The product was designed to meet the needs of smaller hospitals with up to 500 beds, explained Tim Kearns, director of marketing for healthcare IT at Konica Minolta Imaging USA, in a video interview with Radiology Business. He said this market for small and medium sized hospitals has been underserved, so the new solution offers both functionality and an affordable price point. The trend toward consolidation of smaller clinics and health systems and changing reimbursement models are driving hospitals to acquire or start their own outpatient imaging centers, creating greater demand for more integrated enterprise imaging solutions.

"We're seeing the trend, so we want to go after that market to broaden our growth. The imaging centers use the hospital's PACS. So the Exa version that we released takes us into the enterprise imaging space," Kearns said.