Web-Deployable PACS Overcomes Multisite Implementation Barriers

A picture archiving and communications system (PACS) offers a Web-deployable solution that provides the necessary tools and customizable workflows that help overcome the physical barriers of complex multisite environments. The system is a single diagnostic image-management and storage solution that improves the planning, capture, interpretation, distribution, and archiving of diagnostic images, allowing a virtual view of a patient's imaging record across the hospital enterprise.

Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Belgium), a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare information technology (IT) solutions, reported that it has signed an agreement with ZNA (Ziekenhuis Netwerk Antwerpen-Hospital Network Antwerp; Belgium) for the delivery of its Impax 6TM image management solution to support and centralize the diagnostic and clinical imaging needs of its nine sites across the city. As part of the agreement, Agfa HealthCare will act as the customer's key application service provider (ASP) for medical imaging, providing remote solution hosting and management at its advanced server facilities in Mortsel.

The system will meet the imaging needs of 37 radiologists, a nuclear medicine specialist and over 600 clinicians across the ZNA facilities. ZNA is Belgium's largest hospital group, and one of Europe's top 10 hospitals in size, counting a total of nine sites, approximately 2,500 beds and serves over one million inhabitants in the Antwerp region. The hospital group manages over 400,000 radiology exams yearly.

"We were looking for a solution which would work across departments and disciplines, delivering improvements in our overall operational efficiencies, solve communications issues, and serve the needs of our image intensive departments across all facilities,” explained Bruno Holthof, CEO of ZNA. "On top of that we were also looking for a partner we could rely on to not only deliver the solution, but also to maintain it, as well as ensure that all users are properly trained and supported over the coming years.”

Agfa HealthCare's Impax will integrate all existing radiology systems at ZNA into its centralized workflow including an existing radiology information system (RIS)/Speech from Agfa HealthCare, an electronic patient record solution and other IT sub-systems. As part of the agreement, the company will also integrate a number of Agfa HealthCare's sophisticated clinical applications into the solution, including three-dimensional (3D) rendering, orthopedic, and nuclear medicine software.

"Agfa HealthCare is proud to have been selected by a hospital of such high standing, with very high expectations from its solution providers,” explained Hans Vandewyngaerde, vice president region Europe at Agfa HealthCare. "The fact that they have not only relied on us to install the solution, but to also maintain and support it at our facilities in Mortsel, is a clear indication of the trust ZNA has put in us, and we will deliver on that trust.”

ZNA (Antwerp Hospital Network) is Belgium's leading healthcare provider offering healthcare in the Antwerp metropolitan area and beyond. ZNA is composed of three general hospitals, eight day-centers, and six specialized care centers (children, psychiatry, and geriatrics).

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

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