Cedara Software Corp. Announces Distribution Agreement With medavis GmbH To Provide RIS Software To Selected European Markets

TORONTO, May 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cedara Software, a Merge Healthcare company and a leading independent developer of medical software technologies for the global healthcare market, today announced an agreement with medavis GmbH to distribute their Radiology Information System in conjunction with Cedara’s FUSION PACS offering to selected European markets. To date, the medavis RIS has been implemented at a variety of institutions around the world including large and small hospitals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and China. As a proven, well established solution, medavis’ RIS will complement Cedara’s end-user product offerings in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Lebanon. medavis’ RIS was introduced in the late 1990s, following over 2 years of planning, development, and consultation with healthcare and IT professionals. Following initial release, subsequent user feedback has been used to direct continued development of the system. As a state-of-the-art information management solution, the medavis RIS has been designed to manage all data in a radiology practice, supporting numerous modules and interfaces for customized implementation. Using the medavis RIS, a radiology practice or clinic can be equipped with the number of user workstations it requires, and scale its implementation at a later date as need be. Specific modules include support for scheduling, worklists, document management, billing, statistics and more. The medavis RIS is also highly adaptable and available for tight integration with PACS, HIS and EPR solutions, while allowing configurable workflow and language support for different sized institutions in different countries.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030430/MRGELOGO )

The medavis’ RIS software will be available in a tightly integrated format with Cedara’s FUSION PACS, to create a comprehensive FUSION RIS/PACS offering for select markets. “We are very pleased to be working with Cedara Software,” said Joerg Dittrich, Managing Director of medavis. “Cedara’s extensive reach and expertise in the global medical imaging marketplace will provide an excellent new channel for our RIS software. Combined with the FUSION PACS platform, healthcare professionals in France, the UK, Ireland, Benelux [Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg], and Lebanon will be provided with a powerful, new solution for medical imaging, designed to accelerate workflow and productivity in radiological environments.”

Cedara’s FUSION PACS, made popular by eFilm Workstation(TM), has been installed at a large number of medical facilities around the world and provides a flexible solution for digital medical imaging throughout the healthcare enterprise and beyond. FUSION PACS is an integrated repository of healthcare information and a suite of software application modules that provide PACS and web distribution of medical images on a single, integrated PACS platform. For healthcare professionals, FUSION PACS addresses needs for ease-of-use, affordability, user-centric workflow, scalability, load balancing, and secure access to medical images.

“Combined with Cedara’s PACS, EPR and clinical applications, medavis’ RIS will extend Cedara’s capabilities in the end-user market, and allow us to provide a more comprehensive product offering to our growing customer base,” said Jacques Cornet, Vice-President of Business Development and Strategic Marketing at Cedara Software. “The medavis RIS was specifically designed to address the divergent needs of the international marketplace -- supporting multiple languages, displaying unique patient information, and providing flexible workflow for healthcare professionals of different nationalities. We are very pleased to be working with medavis -- a leader in the field of radiology information systems.”

Based in Karlsruhe, Germany, medavis GmbH has been developing system solutions for radiology since 1994. As a well-reputed and experienced supplier for radiology IT solutions, especially in the fields of RIS and PACS, medavis covers the entire workflow of findings and of all related processes. Therefore we combine ease of use and efficiency with a seamless integration into enterprise wide IT structures -- all over the world. The medavis RIS -- designed to manage all radiology data -- exchanges information with systems from various manufacturers. To this end medavis uses HL7 and DICOM standards and provide modules that harmonize with and complement each other, and they can as well be integrated independently of one another in existing structures. medavis support participation in the IHE Initiative not only with its compatible products but also as a driving force in its design. Furthermore medavis regularly demonstrates its performance capability at every IHE Connectathon. For additional information, visit http://www.medavis.com .

Cedara Software is a Merge Healthcare company focused on the development of custom engineered software applications and development tools for the medical imaging OEM and International markets. Cedara software is deployed in hospitals and clinics worldwide and is licensed by many of the world’s leading medical device and healthcare information technology companies. Cedara technologies and expertise span all the major digital imaging modalities including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), digital X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, echo-cardiology, angiography, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and fluoroscopy. Cedara medical imaging offerings are used in all aspects of clinical imaging workflow including the capture of a patient’s digital image; the archiving, communication and manipulation of digital images; sophisticated clinical applications to analyze digital images; and the use of imaging in minimally- invasive surgery. For additional information, visit http://www.cedara.com .

Merge Healthcare is a market leader in the development and delivery of medical imaging and information management software and services. With over twenty years of leadership in the medical imaging and healthcare information technology markets, Merge Healthcare provides innovative solutions for both OEM and the end-user healthcare markets. We custom engineer clinical and imaging applications and development tools that are on the forefront of medicine and its use of medical imaging for OEM and international customers. We develop innovative medical imaging software solutions that support end-to- end business and clinical workflow for radiology department and specialty practices, imaging centers and hospitals. Our innovative software solutions use leading-edge imaging software technologies that accelerate market delivery for our OEM customers, while our end-user solutions improve our customers’ productivity and enhance the quality of patient care they provide. For additional information, visit http://www.merge.com .

All trademarks appearing in this release are the property of Cedara Software Corp. and/or Merge Healthcare and medavis GmbH.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030430/MRGELOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.orgPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.comCedara Software

CONTACT: Jacques Cornet, VP of Business Development & Strategic Marketingof Cedara Software Corp., +1-905-672-2100 x 2564, jacques.cornet@cedara.com, or, Beth Frost-Johnson, Sr. VP of Marketing of Merge Healthcare,+1-414-977-4254, bethfj@merge.com

MORE ON THIS TOPIC