KLAS Research, a healthcare information technology market research firm, has released its Best in KLAS 2024 report, including sections on cardiovascular information systems (CVIS) and hemodynamic systems.
KLAS reports try to find the "true" story of what is happening with every vendor solution by interviewing clinicians who are the product's end users. KLAS said the report is not a perfect sample size and does not include all vendors, but it does hospitals a much larger group of references than a traditional reference check of a couple customers from a vendor’s reference list. The research allows providers and payers to hear frank comments from install sites.
Ranking cardiovascular information systems
In the CVIS category, clinicians ranked Merative Merge Cardio Best in KLAS with an overall ranking of 82.8 out of 100 points. This included high marks from end users for culture, loyalty, operations, product, relationship and value. Merative also earned the only A grade by a CVIS vendor this year for its relationship with the hospitals.
The overall performance ranking scores of CVIS vendors included in the report were:
• Merative Merge Cardio, 82.8
• Fujifilm Synapse Cardiovascular, 82.5
• Philips IntelliSpace Cardiovascular, 80.2
• Siemens Healthineers syngo Dynamics, 77.8
• Change Healthcare Cardiology Solutions, 76.8
• GE Healthcare Centricity Cardiology Enterprise Solution, 71.4
Fujifilm Synapse Cardiovascular was the 2022 Best in KLAS CVIS vendor. This year, its score increased 5% and is right behind Merative. Fijifilm did perform better than Merative in terms of value.
GE had dropped in the rankings in previous years, but saw a 5% improvement run its score this year. The main area of trouble was in end users seeing value in the product, which moved up from a grade of F in 2023 to a D+. GE also moved up from a D to a C in both culture and loyalty in 2024.
KLAS included three other CVIS companies in the report, but they were not ranked with the other six above due to limited data:
• Infinitt Cardiology Suite, 88.1
• Epic Cupid, 86 (Cupid is a component software for the overall Epic EMR)
• Intelerad Apollo Advance (Lumedx), 59.4
KLAS asks if end users if they feel vendors are part of their long-term IT plans. Vendors who score 95% or above are listed, and that only included Fujifilm (96%) and Philips (95%) this year.
Ranking cardiology hemodynamic systems
Hemodynamic systems are used to record patient vital signs and other physiological and procedural data during interventional procedures. Merative Merge Hemo was ranked Best in KLAS in addition to being the only vendor to get an A grade. It achieved an A in multiple categories: culture, loyalty, product and relationship. Merative also saw a 7% bump in satisfaction in 2024.
The rankings by end users were:
• Merative Merge Hemo, 91.5
• Change Healthcare Cardiology Hemo, 78
• Philips Xper Hemodynamics, 77.9
• GE Healthcare Mac-Lab, 75.6
Merative customers were extremely positive about the product, with 100% of respondents saying the vendor kept all promises, Merge Cardio would be included in their long-term plans, and they would buy the product again.
Change Healthcare introduced a new hemodynamic system in 2022 to retire one that was a decade old. This appears to have changed user experiences, with the vendor rising 11% in its ranking in 2023. However, the vendor dropped back 4% this year. Philips also dropped 4% this year.
In 2022, GE Mac-Lab was in the No. 1 spot. But the vendor saw its score decline 8% in 2023 and another 2% in 2024. It earned the lowest grades among vendors with a C- for relationship and value.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com