Agfa HealthCare successfully completes release and implementation of HeartStationTM ECG Management System at Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center

 

ACC (Booth#2823), New Orleans, LA (US) - March 26, 2007 - 14:00 CET

 

Agfa HealthCare announces today it has successfully completed the release and implementation of the HeartStation ECG Management system at Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center (Brockton, MA, USA).   HeartStation ECG Management system is a comprehensive data management solution that automates the processing and storage of electrocardiograms (ECGs). HeartStation provides the hospital's physicians, technicians, and clinical staff with timely access to secure ECG exams and reports from any point on the enterprise network.  The HeartStation solution can also be installed as an application for smaller medical practices.

 

Earlier this week, installation, configuration, and staff training was completed on schedule at Caritas Good Samaritan. The solution was integrated into the hospital's Agfa HealthCare Cardiovascular system, offering a single integrated view of clinically relevant ECG data from separate ECG carts within the healthcare facility.

 

The open, standards-based architecture of Agfa HealthCare solutions assures flexibility and efficiency for both the hospital clinical and IT staff.  The vendor-neutral HeartStation solution supports current and past models of ECG carts, protecting the investment of multiple manufacturers' devices.  Data from a variety of ECG equipment manufacturers is managed by the solution's tightly integrated structured results approach.  In providing a single, unified point of access to past and present ECG exams from multimodalities, HeartStation facilitates rapid review, serial comparison, editing, and electronic signing of ECGs from anywhere.

 

As a result of location-independent access to ECG exams, patient care is dramatically improved in two ways.  First, cardiologists can review patient's ECG exams at locations of their own choosing, that is, anywhere they have secure network access to the hospital enterprise.  And, most importantly, patients benefit as well, as their exams and associated reports are made available at every location in the hospital enterprise, enhancing their care.

 

The installation of the HeartStation ECG Management system underscores Agfa HealthCare's leadership vision that global growth consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan, called the company's goal of "becoming a total solution provider in the healthcare IT space, while maintaining an open architecture to ensure interoperability in a heterogeneous ecosystem."  The 2007 Frost & Sullivan Award for North American Medical Informatics Competitive Strategy Leadership of the Year was awarded to Agfa HealthCare earlier this year.  "Agfa HealthCare will continue to demonstrate its sustained commitment to multimodality healthcare IT solutions to promote enhanced communication between medical professionals and improved patient care," said Lisa Braunreuther, Agfa HealthCare Executive Director, Cardiovascular Solutions Americas.  "The HeartStation ECG solution enables cost-effective multi-vendor integration across the enterprise by consolidating and managing data in one easy-to-use interface."

 

"Improving communication within our clinical and cardiology staff is a cornerstone of our strategy to maintain a cardiology center of excellence throughout our healthcare system," said Richard M. Regnante, MD, FACC, cardiology consultant for cardiovascular program planning and former chief of cardiology at Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center.  "Our objectives include state-of-the-art clinical care, excellence in medical education and research, standardization within the Caritas system, and creation of a database to assist in measuring quality and outcomes.  Agfa HealthCare Cardiovascular solution with the HeartStation module supports our vision of developing a cardiovascular Electronic Patient Record (EPR) that facilitates the seamless transfer of images and clinical data, thus increasing workflow and efficiency.  We deploy the solution to address the complete cardiac care cycle.  For instance, by making ECG's and other cardiology imaging and non imaging tests available throughout the system, cardiologists and other doctors share patient cardiology information and raise the standard of care."

 

 

 

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing, processing and printing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. The company has over a century of experience in diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Agfa HealthCare today employs 5,700 staff members, with sales offices and representatives in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2006 were 1452 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales