Overview of CAPACITY data.

This paper presents an overview of the data from 15 cases collected with the CAPACITY software for cost analysis of PACS. The data suggest that both hospital wide and partial PACS implementations do not pay back yet. Only Nuclear Medicine PACS systems may be introduced cost-neutral in the near future. Because of the assumed price drop of hardware components of 5-25% per year, hospital wide and partial PACS may allow cost savings within the next 10-20 years. There are major differences in viewpoints concerning the required PACS configurations and their costs. The experiences with the CAPACITY software suggest the need for the establishment of key rules, for designing a PACS configuration and for estimating PACS costs.