Traditional providers of turnkey systems for radiology, other medical specialties, and even hospital information systems have not and cannot address the developing needs of users, according to Haramati.
"This includes examples as viewing datasets that the traditional PACS viewer cannot accommodate, archival of data types (such as videos) that the vendor will not handle, or other functions that the turnkey systems cannot perform," Haramati said. "Examples of such additional functions include sophisticated workflow engines, decision-support capabilities, and integration of advanced visualization and navigation features."
Such commodity "building blocks" already exist in the marketplace, however, and incorporating and supporting these commoditized components are a relatively inexpensive approach to turbocharge information system functionality, Haramati said.
"Waiting for the turnkey vendors to add such capabilities put users on a time frame that may well have the vendor sunset and abandon the user's platform rather than upgrade the functionality," he said. "If the functionality is eventually added, the delay and costs would likely both be prohibitive."
Radiology led the curve in adopting advanced IT, and commoditization might be the next phase of this evolution, according to Haramati.
"Commoditization has arrived," he said. "We need to learn how and to what extent and in what specific areas it can help us."
