Agfa HealthCare announces the signing of a framework agreement with Västra Götalandsregionen, Sweden, for a contract covering a radiology information system/picture archiving and communication system (RIS/PACS) for the region's 18 hospitals. Based on this frame agreement, a number of subsequent orders will be placed; the first will be for the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Gothenburg, the main hospital in the region.
First Implementation: Sahlgrenska
With a total population of close to 1.7 million, Västra Götalandsregionen is one of the largest Swedish healthcare regions covering about 24,000 km2. Its 45,000 employees work across the region's 18 hospitals and 200 healthcare centers.
The frame agreement lays out standard terms under which the hospitals within Västra Götalandsregionen can implement Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging for Radiology solution at their own pace, when they need or want to. Västra Götalandsregionen and Agfa HealthCare are now defining the scope of the initial order, for Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Being the main hospital in the region as well as the largest hospital in northern Europe, Sahlgrenska University Hospital has a total of 120 departments, 2000 beds and 16,000 employees.
Modern IT platform facilitating quality outcomes
Powered by a modern IT platform, built on contemporary mainstream IT components and standards, Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging for Radiology solution simplifies the hospital's operations and reduces the IT footprint as well as system maintenance costs. Clinical productivity is achieved through improved coordination and productivity of users and enhanced quality of information. The intuitive design supports the complexities of modern diagnostic imaging. Task-based workflows help the user prioritize daily activities and, together with the innovative tools, facilitate collaboration inside and outside of the imaging departments - all contributing to quality outcomes.
Market adoption of seamless solution
After an extensive procurement process, Västra Götaland Region has chosen Agfa HealthCare as provider for their new RIS/PACS. Their evaluation team was unanimous in its assessment and both the functional and economic aspects placed Agfa in first place in the evaluation.
"The procurement process was at a regional level. Now the departments of Radiology (adults as well as children) and Clinical Physiology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital are placing a first order based on the frame agreement and we are looking forward to a very exciting joint implementation", says Mikael Segersten, Key Account Manager, Agfa HealthCare Sweden.
"We are very pleased with this strong confirmation of Agfa HealthCare's strategy by a key player in the mature and advanced Nordic market," says Mek Nielsen, Nordic Business Unit IT Manager, Agfa HealthCare. "This agreement highlights the value of Agfa HealthCare creating a medical imaging platform that truly combines workflow, image management, reporting, and clinical applications into one seamless solution."
"This success showes that Agfa HealthCare's philosophy of supporting hospitals in their evolution to an outcome-based, instead of a volume-based, approach is the right one," says Peter Gielen, General Manager Nordic, Agfa HealthCare. "This philosophy is fully upheld in Agfa HealthCare's solution development, aimed at providing our customers with a patient-centric solution."
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,620 million euro in 2014.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2014 were 1,069 million euro.