Benefits will include a better quality of care for patients, faster access to data for healthcare professionals and thorough integration with existing hospital systems
Mortsel - Belgium, August 30, 2006
Agfa HealthCare today announces that it will start the first implementation phase of its ORBISTM hospital IT solution at the Belgian AZ Groeninge hospital in Kortrijk and the AZ Imelda Hospital in Bonheiden. ORBIS is a leading hospital and clinical IT system that manages the entire patient flow through all departments. With these two pilot projects, Agfa becomes the first in its field to provide Belgian hospitals with an integrated platform in which clinical, administrative and workflow oriented systems converge in a patient-centric form.
ORBIS enhances the quality of patient care and provides fast and complete availability of patient records, including all images and data. These records are made available to authorized nursing, technical and medical staff, allowing for quicker and better diagnoses and treatments.
AZ Groeninge hospital
The AZ Groeninge hospital provides a comprehensive range of health services in the region of South West Flanders. Per year the hospital hosts approximately 35,000 inpatients and some 35,000 outpatients . AZ Groeninge's 2,300 employees and 200 doctors serve 1,100 hospital beds in four different locations in the city. The four organisations are currently being merged and they will move to a single location on the city's outskirts in early 2008.
The existing hospital information systems of the hospital will be replaced by ORBIS over the next three years. The hospital anticipates that ORBIS will contribute to the implementation of the workflow-based clinical paths, which it has been developing over the past few years and which elevate the quality of patient care. In addition, staff will have more time available to improve care for patients who require highly-specialized treatment.
The main reason for which AZ Groeninge, a long-term Agfa client, decided to work with Agfa HealthCare is the holistic and workflow-based approach of ORBIS. "With ORBIS, we will be able to introduce the electronic patient record (EPR) throughout the hospital," said Marc Van Uytven, hospital CFO. "We expect medical and care-based workflows to become more integrated in our hospital departments, thanks to the implementation of this holistic and workflow-based system. During the intermediary phase, following the merger of four medium-sized hospitals and in the context of moving to one location, we will centralize all medical disciplines at one of the four sites. This increases the need for a single, hospital-wide platform, which will help us to integrate hospital workflows."
AZ Imelda hospital
The AZ Imelda hospital provides a comprehensive range of health services to approximately 70,000 people in the Belgian region between the cities of Antwerp and Brussels. AZ Imelda's 1,400 employees serve 550 hospital beds and 200 residential entities in the hospital's geriatric revalidation center.
The existing hospital information systems of the hospital will be gradually replaced by ORBIS over the next three to five years under the terms of the agreement, which includes delivery, implementation and ongoing service support.
Hugo Prims, CEO of the hospital, said: "We have developed a deep feeling of trust and confidence in Agfa HealthCare as a leading healthcare solutions provider, which grew in part from our implementation of Agfa HealthCare's innovative RIS/PACS (Radiology Information System / Picture Archiving and Communication System) solution. We were one of the first hospitals in Belgium to implement PACS, and now we're proud to be among the first Belgian hospitals to implement ORBIS."
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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.
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.
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Contact persons
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
