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Vendor research firm KLAS Enterprises has published the 2009 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards for Medical Equipment.

The Orem, Utah-based firm ranks specific products of vendors--based on customer satisfaction--covering a variety of diagnostic medical imaging modalities, patient monitors, smart pumps and medication packaging and dispensing systems, among other equipment.

Toshiba ranked No. 1 overall for vendors with a minimum of three separate products rated in three separate market segments. In order, the other top six vendors were FUJIFILM, GE Healthcare, Philips, Siemens and McKesson.

Best in KLAS winners for specific categories include:

* Computed Radiography-multi-plate: Xpress Dual Bay from Konica Minolta;

* Computed Tomography-64-slice+: Aquilion 64 from Toshiba;

* Digital X-ray: RADspeed from Shimadzu;

* Magnetic Resonance-1.5T: Vantage from Toshiba;

* Mammography-Digital: Senographe DS from GE Healthcare;

* Smart Pumps: Outlook (LVP) from B. Braun; and

* Ultrasound: Xario from Toshiba.

The new report also lists nine additional specific products as 2009 Category Leaders:

* Computed Radiography-Single Plate: PCR Eleva S from Philips;

* Computed Tomography-Under 64-Slice: SOMATOM Emotion 16 from Siemens;

* CV/IR X-ray: Infinix-i Series from Toshiba;

* High-Volume Unit Dose Packaging: FastPak EXP from AmerisourceBergen;

* Medication Dispensing-Centralized: Robot-RX from McKesson;

* Medication Dispensing-Decentralized: OmniRx from Omnicell;

* Magnetic Resonance-3.0T: MAGNETOM Trio from Siemens;

* Nuclear Medicine: Millennium MG from GE Healthcare; and

* Ultrasound-Hand-Carried: t3000 from Terason.

The complete report with detailed findings and rankings costs $500 for providers and $2,500 for non-providers. It is available here.

--Joseph Goedert