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Healthcare IT is becoming increasingly complex. In order to keep up with current and future requirements, Advanced Visualisation vendors are organising themselves into two different categories, each specialising to try and stay ahead of competition. ECR this year offered a glimpse of this growing split; some vendors are focusing on interoperability and integration to become preferred platform vendors, while others are aiming to provide superior image analysis and visualisation software to create the AV tools radiologists would desire and demand. What used to be one complete AV solution from one vendor, may soon become two separate products with companies working together in partnerships to offer a pick and choose selection from the leading AV tools vendors.

There were several ultrasound product launches from the major vendors at ECR 2018, with most prioritising workflow efficiency and image quality over advanced clinical features. Large displays, faster boot times, manoeverability and improved ergonomics were common across the product launches, with vendors striving to make ultrasound faster, more precise and more affordable. This insight summarises the products announced alongside our views on their likely impact on the market.

Virtual reality is by no means a new technology, but recent technological developments have given it new life and attention, which is now enabling it to spread from gaming and consumer markets into industries such as manufacturing, construction and healthcare. However, how hard will the move into healthcare be? How can we use virtual reality in healthcare, and what are the challenges for adoption?

In his seminal book “Crossing the Chasm”, Geoffrey A. Moore described the challenges of bringing disruptive technologies to market and the all-important transition from selling products to innovators and early adopters, to selling to the mass market

The telehealth market has historically been addressed with very much a “hardware-centric“ approach in terms of solutions. Typically, solutions have been based around proprietary hardware (e.g. carts, viewing equipment, peripherals), with limited clinical workflow and IT integration and poor functionality in terms of clinical and process analytics.

After a year of mixed fortunes, the global ultrasound market is set for a strong year in 2018. The three major geographic markets of EMEA, Americas and Asia are all forecast to grow faster than in 2017, driving a global growth rate of 5.1%, notably higher than the 3.2% growth seen last year.

With the new year dawning, the competitive landscape for global medical technology is mired in uncertainty. Of the "big four" vendors (GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Philips and Toshiba Medical Systems) three are undergoing radical change, creating perhaps one of most volatile competitive market environments for some time. Add to this the visible presence of new market entrants from informatics, outsourcing, consumer technology and the rapidly growing artificial intelligence sector, and one thing is certain: market change is coming.

InTouch Health has historically supplied telehealth hardware and platforms primarily aimed at US enterprise settings and over recent years it has established itself as a leading vendor in this sector. It has done this by expanding its business both by investing heavily in its platform offering, as it attempts to scale its software business over hardware, and broadening the range of care settings it serves (e.g. community settings, acute settings and post-acute settings).

Consolidation has been a key theme within the PHM industry for a number of years, but what does this latest deal say about Philips' strategy and future challenges?

AI was undoubtedly the belle of the ball at RSNA 2017, and rightly so. As the meeting drew to a close, a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the UK revealed that a NHS hospital had a backlog of 23,000 chest x-rays acquired over the previous 12 months that hadn't been formally reviewed.

Radiology is no longer a separate and isolated unit where an imaging order is submitted, and a report is sent out. RSNA this year illustrated how radiology is becoming more and more incorporated into the wider healthcare provider organisation. With IT having spread throughout wider healthcare and artificial intelligence slowly being accepted to increase efficiency and improve diagnostic accuracy, the stage is now set for strengthening the interactions between radiology and the rest of the healthcare organisation.

It was clear that AI was always going to steal the show. But despite the hype and mass marketing around deep-learning for decision support and diagnosis, other crucial market shifts were exposed during RSNA that were easily missed.