All News

Imation of Oakdale, MN, last week closed its acquisition of PACS Cemax-Icon of Fremont, CA. Imation and Cemax-Icon announced the agreement in May, in which Imation agreed to pay $30 million up front and up to $49 million in milestone payments for

The chief executive of German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG last month stated emphatically that the company's Medical Engineering Group is not for sale. While Medical Engineering finished the first six months of the year in the red, due to a massive

New scanner features powerful supercomputed architectureJust when you thought it was safe to go shopping for an ultrasound scanner, along comes another company with a new super-premium system to consider. ATL Ultrasound last month became the

Rogan's move into U.S. market bears fruit for Dutch PACS vendorCompany benefiting from OEM relationshipsDutch PACS vendor Rogan Medical Systems is reaping rewards from its 1995 decision to enter the U.S. market. OEM relationships and a

ALI inks deal with IBM to develop large-scale archiveAlliance may presage ALI's expansion from ultrasoundUltrasound miniPACS developer ALI Technologies and IBM Canada have announced a new initiative to develop an automated enterprise-wide

PACS needs new compression standardWhile the reluctance of imaging equipment manufacturers to develop software for lossy compression is understandable, it is disappointing that the DICOM members chose not to move forward with a proposal to

Siemens to market Howtek digitizersSiemens Health Services will sell Hudson, NJ-based Howtek's Scanmaster DX x-ray film scanners under an agreement between the companies announced last month. Scanmaster DX will be offered by Siemens as a

AHRA, SCAR hold electronic imaging showThe American Healthcare Radiology Administrators, in collaboration with the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology, will hold a PACS conference Oct. 23-25 at Caesars Tahoe in Lake Tahoe, NV. The

Siemens seeks to place PACS business within information systems contextMultimodality vendor shifts PACS division to reflect market trendsSiemens Medical Systems is one of the most experienced companies in the PACS market, and also one of

DICOM working group's effort to add to compression standard derailsLack of consumer market support doomed wavelet's prospectsIn a move that may delay the addition of new lossy compression algorithms to the DICOM 3.0 PACS connectivity

GE last week paid Fonar $128.7 million for damages in the MRI patent infringement case Fonar is pursuing against the Milwaukee company. The payment does not mean the case is over for GE, however, as the company intends to continue its appeal of the case

Siemens Medical Systems has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its Opdima digital spot mammography unit. Opdima is based on charge-coupled device (CCD) technology and retrofits to the Iselin, NJ, vendor's Mammomat 3000

The European Coordination Committee of the Radiological and Electromedical Industries (COCIR) has set up a new committee to promote the use of information technology in healthcare in Europe. The committee believes that there is a need for European

Film digitizer manufacturer Howtek of Hudson, NH, has signed an OEM agreement with Siemens Health Services for sales of Howtek's Scanmaster DX digitizer. Scanmaster DX will be offered by Siemens Health Services as a component of the company's MagicView

When GE Medical Systems bought PACS firm Lockheed Martin Medical Imaging Systems in April, it said its plan was to retain all 130 employees at the company, including chief executive Michael Baker (SCAN 4/30/97). Less than three months later, however, GE

SCAR finds PACS market at crossroads as vendors continue to add innovationsMany companies target low-cost Web-based solutionsThe PACS market has finally begun to gain momentum, thanks to increased customer recognition of the benefits and

CompuRad looks to PC-based software for success in teleradiology marketplaceVendor to leverage teleradiology base for ClinicalWare salesCompuRad made a move that was ahead of its time when it decided in 1992 to focus its business on

Recent PurchasesSiemens Medical Systems of Iselin, NJ, has closed PACS sales at the Radiology Group of New Brunswick in New Brunswick, NJ; St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, FL; St. John's Hospital in Springfield, IL; and St. Francis Medical

Army's radiology plans to include DIN-PACSMany PACS industry observers are wondering whether the U.S. military will follow through with its stated intention to buy new PACS networks based on specifications included in its DIN-PACS (Defense

Physicians at Brooke Army Medical Center see MDIS as precursor to larger PACSArmy's consulting radiologist has ambitious plans for PACS linksThe U.S. military is finding that PACS can play a major role in helping reduce cost, boost

Olicon moves to larger headquartersOlicon Imaging Systems has moved to a new facility in Southern California. At the same time, the PACS software developer has opened a new Teleradiology Archiving Program (TAP) archiving center in Ontario,

Baker leaves GE after PACS purchaseMichael Baker has left the former Lockheed Martin Medical Imaging System PACS division that GE Medical Systems acquired last April (PNN 5/97). Baker joins several other Lockheed Martin systems engineers

The Premier group purchasing organization will launch a limited-time promotion of Siemens ultrasound scanners beginning this month and running through September. The program will include special financing programs and extended discounts on Sonoline

Philips Medical Systems North America has announced the first major set of organizational changes since Jack Price was promoted to president in March, replacing Michael Moakley (SCAN 3/19/97).Price selected Wade Binford, formerly group director of x-ray

Reimbursement issues retard center firm's growthImatron is in a bit of a bind. The South San Francisco, CA, vendor has seen an increase in sales of its premium ultrafast CT scanners this year, particularly in overseas markets. Imatron's financial

New firm is headed by Elscint veteran HermonyThe i's are dotted and the t's are crossed on the joint-venture agreement between Elscint and GE Medical Systems to form a new company to develop gamma camera technology that will be marketed

MRA should shorten delays in marketing products in U.S. and E.U.The governments of the U.S. and the European Union have removed a substantial barrier to transatlantic trade by agreeing to recognize each other's product-testing bodies as competent

New company will service TomTec installed base, howeverTomTec Imaging Systems called it quits on June 1 following unsuccessful attempts to gain new funding sources following the withdrawal of its venture-capital backers. At the same time, the