The software developers at Siemens Healthcare have come up with something special for customers employing Siemens PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) and RIS (Radiology Information System) software: Clinical staff members process their specific tasks via "role-based portals". These portal applications are tailored to the respective users and workplaces. 
Agfa HealthCare performed in line with earlier expressed expectations, in spite of the economic crisis. The business group's sales decreased by only 1.0 percent to 291 million Euro. The markets for X-ray film and hardcopy film evolved in line with the trend of the previous quarters. Due to the crisis, some care organizations are postponing their investments in Computed Radiography (CR) equipment. Despite the weak economic conditions, Imaging IT and Enterprise IT performed markedly better than in the first months of 2008. 
InterSystems Corporation has announced the winners of its annual worldwide Innovator Awards competition. The awards honor and encourage development of innovative solutions that utilize one or more of InterSystems' software products. Entries were received from a large field of developers in 13 countries and the submissions were judged by an independent panel of IT industry experts. The Angiographic, Fluoroscopic and Radiographic Systems Unit of Siemens Healthcare took part in the Industrial Excellence competition for "top factory" and recently has been selected as the German and European winner. The international jury gave top grades to the management and employees of the Siemens unit located in Forchheim in all categories, ranging from the business model to strategic implementation and cooperation with customers. 
Short distances in hospital information exchange help to reduce time for examinations and get fast diagnoses. Therefore integrated radiology information and picture archiving communication systems (RIS/PACS) are key in modern healthcare. The University Hospital in Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has implemented a Web-based IT solution by GE Healthcare for radiology information management and picture archiving of all imaging modalities in the newly created hospital building. 
Carestream Health, Inc., announced that its CARESTREAM eHealth Managed Services (eMS) now manages 10 million imaging studies - representing more than 500 terabytes of data - worldwide. The company operates eight data centers in five countries to service healthcare providers throughout North America and Europe. The new acute hospital to serve the healthcare needs of residents in Birmingham and the West Midlands will benefit from a raft of innovative medical imaging technologies when it opens its doors to patients in 2010. A multi-million pound investment on four MRI scanners, four CT and three SPECT/CT systems has been made by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB).