Agfa HealthCare's strong reputation in hospital IT confirmed by additional ORBIS contract in year of launch in Belgium

 

 

 

 

 

Agfa HealthCare announces today that the AZ Monica acute care hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, has contracted Agfa HealthCare to install ORBISTM, Agfa HealthCare's comprehensive hospital and clinical IT system. The ORBIS solution will manage the entire patient flow through all departments at AZ Monica's two hospital sites in Antwerp. The contract marks the first commercial implementation of ORBIS in Belgium, following the launch in the Belgian market in March of this year, and illustrates Agfa HealthCare's commitment to the achievement of Electronic Patient Records (EPR).

 

The AZ Monica hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, counts 477 beds distributed over two locations in the city and provides a comprehensive range of health services. Its 786 employees and 175 doctors treat approximately 18,000 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients each year.

 

For the AZ Monica hospital, the key reason to choose Agfa HealthCare as a strategic in hospital IT partner is the cross-departmental and process-based approach of ORBIS. Dirk Van de Vyver, the hospital's IT Manager, said: "As a single solution, ORBIS allows for enhancing the quality of patient care and provides fast and complete availability of patients' histories, including all images and data. Accurate patient medical records will be available to authorized nursing, technical and medical staff, allowing for quicker and better diagnoses and treatments."

 

ORBIS's installed base, with 400,000 daily users in 750 hospital sites throughout Europe, also contributed to AZ Monica's preference for Agfa HealthCare. "When we were looking for a hospital information system, Agfa HealthCare was able to show us a convincing ORBIS demo, presented by a doctor who used the solution on a daily basis in his German workplace. Conversely, Agfa HealthCare's competitors' demo sessions tended to include functionalities labeled 'maybe in the future' or 'we're investigating the possibility'. After several successful and highly convincing demo sessions, both our IT team and the medical staff are confident ORBIS will be a future-proof, and full-grown hospital IT solution," Dirk Van de Vyver continued. The contract includes installation and maintenance. Starting in December 2007, AZ Monica's existing hospital information system will gradually be replaced by ORBIS over two to three years.

 

"At AZ Monica hospital, we are experienced and highly satisfied users of Agfa HealthCare's RIS/PACS (Radiology Information System/Picture Archiving and Communication System) solutions, which we've had since I became head of the Radiology Service," explained Medical Director Dr. Frans Van Camp. "We have seen the evolution from film to digital, and we feel Agfa has taken the worldwide lead in the search for better solutions. At the last RSNA congresses in Chicago, Agfa HealthCare presented highly innovative digital imaging solutions. We are happy to extend our excellent relationship with them."

 

"PACS is a vital component of the Radiology Service, which helps doctors to improve their diagnoses with better images, at a faster pace. Starting in October 2006, new PACS hardware will be installed at the Radiology department, with future expansion to both of AZ Monica's hospital sites and our regional hospital network of general practitioners," Dr. Frans Van Camp concluded.

 

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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.

 

Agfa, the Agfa rhombus and ORBIS are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert N.V. Belgium or its affiliates. All rights reserved

 

 

 

René Stenvert
Marketing Manager Agfa HealthCare Benelux
Phone +32 (0)3 450 96 93
Fax +32 (0)3 450 98 09
E-mail rene.stenvert@agfa.com

 

Werner Vandevelde
Global MarCom Leader Healthcare IT
Phone +32 (0)3 444 80 04
Fax +32 (0)3 444 72 85
E-mail werner.vandevelde@agfa.com

 

Johan Jacobs
Corporate Press Relations Manager
Phone +32 (0)3 444 80 15
Fax +32 (0)3 444 50 05
E-mail johan.jacobs@agfa.com