KLAS publishes many reports each year that look at multiple vendors in a myriad of industry sectors, such as imaging, coding, decision support, electronic health records and CPOE, among others. In response to provider requests, KLAS did a vendor-specific report on Allscripts after it bought Eclipsys, according to a spokesperson. Now, research last year on the imaging market and provider requests compelled the firm to take a standalone look at Agfa. The research found that Agfa in many areas was lagging way behind competitors in functionality and losing client loyalty because of poor service and customer relations.
In the new report, Agfa HealthCare 2013, the vendor provides “second-rate performance as an imaging partner,” according to KLAS. The company is not focused on client success, its PACS performance is mediocre, its cardiovascular systems are disappointing, the radiology information systems functionality has significantly deteriorated in the past year, and its service and support is holding back the technically strong area of image archiving, the report contends.
Agfa’s best performance comes in speech radiology and digital X-ray, particularly its computed radiography systems, which KLAS calls “reliable, rock-solid equipment.”
Overall, however, too many customers don’t see Agfa as a real partner, according to KLAS. “Clients do not report an intense focus from Agfa on customer success, making it an area ripe for improvement. Agfa speaks to a successful partnering model and appears to be incorporating elements of the model, yet historically, Agfa has not delivered anywhere close to an ideal level.”
In response to the report, Agfa HealthCare issued the following statement to Health Data Management:
“Agfa HealthCare continues to lead the adoption of enterprise imaging information management solutions. A global leader with decades of experience in system integration and connectivity at major healthcare facilities, Agfa HealthCare engages in continuous innovation and delivers enhanced systems that meet the needs of healthcare providers and patients. We remain committed to fulfilling our mission to ‘be the partner of choice in imaging, by offering leading edge technology, innovative ways of working and an understanding of its customers.’
“As the healthcare industry faces an era of dynamic change in policy, technology and care delivery, we at Agfa HealthCare continue to identify innovative approaches to better align our products and services to meet providers’ needs. Our recent introduction of the ICIS workflow-centric enterprise imaging platform to image enable the EMR, and our GRIP remote monitoring services confirm our ability to use provider feedback as a launch pad for innovation. We are dedicated to listening to our customers and making further investments in technology and service to bring the right solutions to market.”
The Agfa report is available here, costing $980 for providers and $14,980 for others. While vendor-specific reports are rare, KLAS is looking at doing more because of provider requests, a spokesperson says.
Be the first to comment on this post using the section below.