Siemens Healthcare and SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) signed an agreement today whereby SAP will resell in selected target markets the Siemens Healthcare hospital information system (HIS) i.s.h.med - a leading health information system for the clinical setting that helps healthcare providers improve efficiencies, contributing to improved patient care and the management information system i.c.m.health.

Australia's largest listed health information technology company announced three new contracts in Germany totalling €1.34 million ($2.2 million), including iSOFT's Lorenzo Portal and the first order for the company's new picture archiving and communications system (PACS). All three contracts were finalised in November.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) have signed a EUR 200 million loan agreement. The 10 year loan, provided under the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) will be used to finance research and development (R&D) activities across a range of innovative healthcare projects, including image-guided intervention and home healthcare, in Europe.

Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, announced that NHS Blackpool has provided local healthcare professionals from Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation with access to the diagnostic imaging records of their patients.

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Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, has signed over 40 new agreements for its leading Hospital/Clinical Information System ORBIS since January 2009. ORBIS, available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg is a hospital-wide IT solution which manages and monitors all patient-oriented processes: medical, nursing, administrative and business.

Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with a trust-wide clinical information system from System C Healthcare. Over 1,000 Aintree users, including 700 clinicians, went live with Medway Sigma Clinician's Desktop last week.

One of the main challenges of computed tomography (CT) is to provide excellent image quality while exposing patients to the lowest possible dose of radiation. Reductions in dose application typically lead to increased image noise and loss of image quality.