The latest contracts and installation news

Agfa HealthCare has been selected by the Toronto East Network (TEN) as the preferred vendor for the region’s Diagnostic Imaging Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) project. The TEN Diagnostic Imaging (DI) PACS Project is a joint initiative commissioned by a voluntary consortium of 16 hospital corporations. These hospitals manage 26 clinical sites throughout the central, east and northern regions of Ontarioin Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) 7, 8 and 9. The preferred vendor status will allow Agfa HealthCare to negotiate a binding contract for the provision of its IMPAX solution for current non-PACS sites in the TEN (four hospital corporations across eight sites) and for the implementation of a regional Diagnostic Imaging Repository. The Repository will allow all participating hospital corporations to centrally store image and report data, and to access relevant prior patient images, regardless of which TEN site acquired them.
 
Eastman Kodak Company said this week international orders for its KODAK DIRECTVIEW CR Mammography Feature for the CR 850/950/975 Systems have reached 28. Among the countries in which facilities have purchased systems are France, Germany and Finland. Kodak has offered mammography functionality as an optional feature on these systems outside the United States and Canada since May 2005. Kodak has applied to the U.S. FDA for approval of its CR system for mammography and the company is currently conducting clinical trials at several sites in the U.S. and Canada. The feature is designed to help healthcare facilities to see cost and workflow improvements by capturing mammography and general radiography exams with the same CR platform. Capturing mammography images does require the use of specialized KODAK mammography cassettes and screens, the company said.

Siemens Medical Solutions announced that Doctors Imaging Services, LLC, in Metairie, La., has installed the 150th MAGNETOM C! MRI system. The MAGNETOM C! is capable of whole body imaging and enables doctors to easily access patients during orthopedic, magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) and neurological scanning. The system is a traditional, C-shaped magnet, capable of providing valuable imaging to a variety of patients, regardless of physical or physiological challenges. It is open on three sides to permit easy access to patients.

Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Scotland has chosen Varian to supply medical linear accelerators. The purchase was managed by Scottish Healthcare Supplies. When three new Varian Clinac iX accelerators are installed at the amalgamated West of Scotland Cancer Centre early in 2007, it will become the largest radiotherapy unit in the United Kingdom, with 11 accelerators in total. Varian also is supplying the hospital with two On-Board Imager devices for modern image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) treatments, three RPM respiratory gating systems, an Acuity iX 3D imaging system for brachytherapy planning and verification and three GammaMed afterloaders for high dose rate (HDR) and pulsed dose rate (PDR) brachytherapy treatments.

Commissure Inc. announced the completed installation of its voice recognition application RadWhere Suite within the New York University Medical Center.

Royal Philips Electronics announced yesterday that Paris’ hospital network, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), will implement the speech recognition technology, SpeechMagic, in all of its 39 public hospitals.

Business Object announced that Emergency Medical Associates (EMA), a physician-owned, privately held medical group that manages 17 hospital emergency rooms in the New Jersey and New York metropolitan areas, has migrated its business intelligence deployment to BusinessObjects XI Release 2, the latest version of the company’s business intelligence platform.

ScImage announced new agreements with 20+ institutions. The business includes a mix of new installations of the company’s enterprise-wide PACS, PicomEnterprise; upgrades including the addition of ScImage’s new ECG Management system, PicomECG and the use of ScImage’s off-site archiving, disaster recovery and telemedicine system, PicomOnline. In addition, BJC HealthCare of St. Louis, Mo., has signed a long-term, system-wide agreement with ScImage for continued services. This new business includes the following facilities:

• Arkansas Heart Hospital - Little Rock, Ark.
• Bainbridge MRI - Bronx, N.Y.
• Bio-Imaging Technologies - Newtown, Pa.
• BJC HealthCare - St. Louis, Mo.
• BJC HealthCare - St. Peter’s Hospital - St. Louis, Mo.
• Clarion Hospital - Clarion, Pa.
• Emergency Care Clinic - Carrollton, Texas
• Emergency Care Clinic - Flower Mound, Texas
• False Creek Surgical Center - Vancouver, B.C.
• Good Samaritan Hospital - Dayton, Ohio
• Inner Image Diagnostics Center - Laguna Hills, Calif.       
• James B Haggin Memorial Hospital - Harrodsburg, Ky.
• Miami Valley Hospital - Dayton, Ohio
• North Coast Imaging Center - Fremont, Ohio
• Ohio University - Athens, Ohio
• Sapheneia LLC - Jackson, Miss.
• St. Elizabeth Medical Center - Utica, N.Y.
• St. Luke’s Memorial Hospital - New Hartford, N.Y.
• Tennessee Heart & Vascular Institute - Hendersonville, Tenn.
• Tuomey Regional Medical Center - Sumter, S.C.
• Triumph Healthcare - Houston, Texas
• Willamette Open Imaging - Willamette, Ore. 

Eastman Kodak announced that it has recently signed contracts for KODAK CARESTREAM Radiology Solutions with healthcare facilities across the globe including Adan Hospital in Kuwait and the Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration.
    The following facilities purchased KODAK CARESTREAM RIS and/or PACS platforms:

• Adan Hospital, Kuwait
• Balassagyarmat Hospital, Hungary  
• Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición "Salvador Zubirán”, Mexico  
• Madison County Memorial Hospital, United States 
• Puerto Rico Medical Center, Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration (ASEM), Puerto Rico 
  

Evolved Digital Systems Inc. announced that North Coast Imaging Center LLC in Fremont, Ohio, has signed a 5-year agreement for the use of Evolved’s RadWeb, View2, PACS, and the company’s entire suite of Network and PACS Administration services.  In addition, Evolved’s Brentwood, Tennessee-based Disaster Recovery and Image Archive Solution will provide offsite archiving for North Coast Imaging and Evolved’s Medical Transcription team will provide transcription services.

McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), in collaboration with the University of Montreal Hospital Centre (CHUM), successfully activated the Oacis electronic health record system across each of their eight care delivery sites.

Healthcare systems provider medq inc. has been selected by Northern Arizona Radiology to provide its Q/ris 3000 Workflow Management System to support their internal and regional reading service operations.

Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., has become the first voluntary hospital on Long Island to implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE), which enables Winthrop physicians and clinical providers to securely enter patient care orders and review medical profiles online. The hospital has decided to install Siemens Medical Solution’s INVISION CPOE for its initiative.