Ultrasound System Achieves Gold Star Status

The Aplio XG ultrasound system, developed by Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS; Tustin CA, USA), received gold-star ratings for profiles recognized by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) at this year's Connectathon, the healthcare information technology (IT) industry's only large-scale interoperability testing event, held January 15-19, 2007, in Chicago, IL, USA.

The system received gold stars for compliance with the echo workflow, stress echo, consistent time, and teaching file/clinical trial export profiles. Because of its exemplary performance, the Aplio XG was featured at this year's American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual meeting in New Orleans, LA, USA, on March 24-27, 2007.

The Chicago IHE Connectathon focused on preparation for Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2007 and ACC 2007 and served as an industry-wide testing event where participants could test their implementations with those of other vendors. The Connectathon provides the most detailed validation of the participants' integration work, and the major goal is to promote the adoption in commercially available healthcare IT systems of the standards-based interoperability solutions defined by IHE.

Achieving gold star status represents a benefit for both the vendor and the customer. Customers know upfront if the system has connectivity capability with other venders before they purchase it, which saves time and money.
Since 2001, the Aplio series has been awarded gold stars for a total of eight IHE-recognized profiles, which include SWF--scheduled workflow; PIR-- patient information reconciliation; PDI--portable data for imaging; teaching file and clinical trial export (TCE); evidence documents (ED); echocardiography workflow (ECHO); stress testing workflow (STRESS); and consistent time (CT).

Providing the latest developments in diagnostic performance and operator comfort, the next-generation Aplio XG ultrasound system provides several enhancements that improve productivity, increase diagnostic confidence, facilitate connectivity, and enhance ergonomics.

Enhancements include a new iTouch ergo-optimized control panel and 19-inch liquid crystal display (LCD), which have been added to increase user comfort.

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.


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Toshiba America Medical Systems