Agfa HealthCare announced yesterday that it is launching the second phase of the Tuscan Medical Technology (TMT) hospital digitization project, in which it will install its integrated Radiology Information System (RIS) solution in the hospitals of the central Tuscany region. The first phase of the project, which included the installation of Agfa's CR solutions, has been for a large part successfully completed. The central Tuscany region comprises five hospital groups (twelve hospitals in total): the AO Careggi University hospital group, the AO Meyer hospital group, the ASL 10 Firenze hospital group, the ASL 4 Prato Hospital group and the ASL 3 Pistoia hospital group. Together, they count more than 1 300 general practitioners and some 180 pediatricians who perform more than 1 300 000 examinations per year. The first and second phases of the TMT project - which is part of the larger IDIT project (Informatizzazione della Diagnostica di Immagine in Toscana) - are part of a contract of partnership between Agfa HealthCare and Area Vasta Centro, the central health region in Tuscany. The contract with Agfa HealthCare was signed in the second half of January 2006.
For the TMT project, Agfa HealthCare formed a temporary consortium, called the Raggruppamento Temporaneo d'Impresa (RTI), to satisfy the requirements of the tender. The consortium aims to improve the delivery of diagnostic imaging services in the region. By linking their Radiology departments, the hospitals of the area will be able to share data and imaging across the different healthcare organizations, in this way improving the quality of their service and the delivery of patient care.
The TMT project is one of the most important RIS/PACS projects in Europe, with a total tender amount of 45 million Euros. During the first phase of the project, which commenced in March 2006, Agfa HealthCare installed twenty CR digitizers, more than forty NXTM workstations, two QSTM Mammo Servers and some twenty-five DrystarTM printers. In only nine months, more than half of the imaging activities in Tuscany's Area Vasta Centro region were migrated to a fully digital environment and can be integrated in the planned RIS/PACS environment.
The next phase of the project, in which Agfa HealthCare will install its web-based RIS solution in the twelve hospitals of the region, is now starting. The RIS system, when implemented and fully integrated to the hospitals' PACS system, will greatly enhance patient and exam workflow and permit authorized users to access information available anywhere and at any time.
"With an annual average of over one million examinations, it is vital for the medical staff in the Area Vasta Centro region to go digital. It will allow them to increase the operational efficiency substantially. In addition, the installation of Agfa's RIS will result in a considerable cost reduction for the Radiology departments," said Riccardo Ferraris, Sales Manager Agfa HealthCare Italy. "With this project Agfa HealthCare is recognized for the width of its portfolio," Giovanni Chiodini, Manager IT Division Agfa HealthCare Italy, added. "We are able to deliver the tools for the CR part of the project, as well as the RIS solution and can seamlessly connect these solutions to those of other vendors. Agfa also proves its pioneering role, in terms of its experience and long-term presence in the Italian market."
In the final phase of the project, which is currently planned for July 2008, all twelve hospitals of the Area Vasta Centro region will be linked. This will allow for the entire radiology workflow to be streamlined and improved. As a result, the clinicians in the region will get better information in a faster timeframe, allowing for better patient care.
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information
technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and film related products and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium.
The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,308 million Euro in 2005.
Agfa HealthCare supplies hospitals and other healthcare centers with state-of-the-art systems for the capturing, processing and managing of diagnostic images and with IT solutions that integrate information and imaging workflows into the overall hospital operations across departmental disciplines. In addition, Agfa is a leader in the fast growing market of IT systems that span the entire healthcare enterprise and through which healthcare facilities become more efficient and effective, with improved patient outcomes.
For more information on Agfa, visit www.agfa.com