Installation of latest diagnostic imaging innovations and flexible solutions proves successful
Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, announced that it has completed the installation of its leading IMPAX 6 Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and its fifth generation RIS (Radiology Information System) at four of Alliance Medical’s sites across Ireland.
Alliance Medical, an independent provider of diagnostic imaging services, has 11 dedicated sites across Ireland and is committed to providing high quality diagnostic services to patients, referring clinicians and hospitals. Alliance Medical offers a full range of diagnostic services including MRI, CT, DXA, Ultrasound and X-ray.
Agfa HealthCare's IMPAX 6 is a web-deployable image and information management solution, which will help streamline enterprise workflow and deliver increased efficiency and productivity to your hospital institution. Agfa HealthCare has combined extensive expertise in the PACS domain with the latest technology achievements and leading industry-design principles to deliver a single workflow-based system that will service consumers within, and external to the walls of a facility. When integrated with IMPAX RIS and Reporting solutions, IMPAX 6 will provide a consolidated view of, and centralized management solution for patient image and information data.
The solutions were implemented within a four month period and also include the installation of voice recognition technology and the company's Mediweb solution, enabling electronic clinical referrals and results distribution to referrers over the web. Agfa HealthCare partnered with Strencom, which provides cloud services and innovative data and internet solutions, to implement a broadband based secure network into the four Alliance Medical facilities across Ireland and connecting it to the Strencom data center. Agfa HealthCare will also provide a system administration service as an add-on to a comprehensive maintenance, enabling Alliance Medical to run the solution without having to additionally employ dedicated administrators in any of the sites. Also included in the solution are automated fax/email of results, SMS appointment reminders and automated completion of insurance claim forms.
Ellen Leacy, Project Manager for the Alliance Medical stated "Agfa HealthCare was asked to provide a complete IT solution, from the network, to a fully integrated RIS/PACS system. Agfa HealthCare's solutions were attractive from the start, as it was clear that these could be run over low cost broadband based connections as opposed to dedicated fiber. We signed the contract in February 2010 and the first site went live in June 2010 with the fourth site complete in mid July - a success story."
"The key to implementing the project successfully was to utilize the latest in the available technology, providing not only the latest diagnostic imaging solutions, but also ensuring these were provided flexibly. To this end we deployed VM View "Virtual Desktop's" to all RIS users with the required applications preconfigured making deployment and support quick and simple." States Grant Witheridge, Managing Director UK & Ireland, Agfa HealthCare "Alliance Medical had a good idea of what they wanted, some of which we had not provided before, including automated results distribution via email, SMS appointment reminders through our RIS and automated completion of insurance claim forms, all of which we delivered as part of the overall solution."
"The brief we received was extensive and we take great pride in having completed this complex project within a very short time-frame", states Hans Vandewyngaerde, Vice President Europe at Agfa HealthCare. "We look forward to a fruitful and long-lasting relationship with Alliance Medical, today and in the future".