Copenhagen Hospitals Consolidate Diagnostic Imaging IT Systems

A radiology information system/picture archiving and communication system (RIS/PACS) will replace multiple systems in 12 dispersed hospitals in and around Copenhagen (Denmark) with one integrated system. The system allows authorized clinicians secure access to patient data and images across the entire region.

On June 30, 2011, Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Belgium) signed a contract with Denmark’s Hovedstaden Region (Capital Region) to install and manage its Impax RIS/PACS throughout the region’s 12 hospitals. The unified system will be complemented by the company’s Impax Data Center solution to create a cross-regional image and data repository.

The Hovedstaden Region is one of five administrative units in Denmark providing healthcare, regional development and research for 1.6 million inhabitants, about 30% of Denmark’s population. The area comprises 12 hospitals, together employing 33,000 staff. In total, the hospitals carry out 1.5 million diagnostic imaging exams per year and image storage requirements are expected to exceed more than one petabyte over the RIS/PACS’ lifetime.

With Agfa HealthCare’s Impax solution, patient images and data across the region will be stored in a consolidated and centralized image archive. The Impax Data Center component will not only accommodate images from radiology, but also from departments such as nuclear medicine, clinical physiology, and cardiology. Interfaces will provide communication between the Imapx solution and the region's existing hospital infrastructure.

Hovedstaden region leaders issued a project tender with Agfa HealthCare selected following a thorough evaluation process. Eight separate evaluation groups, consisting of 20 people from the region (including 15 from the diagnostic imaging profession) participated.

The contract was signed on June 30, 2011. The region’s five different RIS and PACS platforms will be replaced with the unified Imax solution. After implementation, approximately 20,000 staff members will be accessing Agfa HealthCare’s Impax system.

The Agfa HealthCare’s region-wide Impax solution, authorized clinicians, and other healthcare staff will have secure access to data for their patients, when and where they need it--at the point of care. The region’s resources will be shared across all hospitals and healthcare staff will participate in the same clinical workflows, helping to achieve the region’s centrally determined efficiency goals while supporting an expected 4% to 5% annual growth in diagnostic imaging studies.

“It is with great enthusiasm that Agfa HealthCare takes on this challenging cross-regional RIS/PACS project,” said Mek Buhl Nielsen, imaging informatics business unit manager, Agfa HealthCare Nordic.” Bringing our entire Impax portfolio to the Hovedstaden Region to meet the highly complex organizational, workflow, and technology requirements will help improve its clinical processes, and ultimately, the delivery of patient care.”

“Agfa HealthCare has extensive experience in large-scale, integrated image and information management solutions. We are honored that the Hovedstaden Region turned to us to consolidate its diagnostic imaging IT [information technology] infrastructure. It confirms our role as a leading player in the Danish and Nordic healthcare scene,” concluded Franz Tiani, business group manager, Agfa HealthCare, Region North, Central and Eastern Europe.

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. Agfa HealthCare designs, develops, and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing, and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results.

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