Questar buys 10 Siemens Magnetom Open scannersAs the imaging services industry consolidates, smaller centercompanies are beginning to look like little fish swimming in anocean of imaging center mega-chains. The conventional wisdom dictatesthat

Acquisition would be third sale of PACS unitExecutives from GE Medical Systems and Lockheed Martin WesternDevelopment Laboratories Medical Imaging Systems aren't talkingabout a rumor that surfaced last week hinting that GE is planningto buy the

IBM's debut of MedSpeak puts pressure on smaller firmsOne of radiology's last bottlenecks is transcription. Radiologydepartments can spend anywhere from several hours to several daysrouting an exam interpretation from a radiologist to a

Film and PACS vendor Agfa of Ridgefield Park, NJ, has formed aconsulting business with Deloitte & Touche Consulting Groupto offer advice to radiology departments on improving their businessprocesses. Called the Healthcare Consulting Alliance, the

Ultrasound vendor Hewlett-Packard apparently has a new scannerwaiting in the wings. The Andover, MA, company gained Food andDrug Administration 510(k) clearance in August for a new diagnosticultrasound system. HP officials are not ready to make a

The race to develop a digital x-ray detector is getting curiouserand curiouser. A consortium of European companies, including Siemens,Philips, and Thomson, have formed a joint venture to develop aflat-panel digital x-ray detector for medical imaging

ISG Technologies postponed the release of its year-end financialresults this month, citing a lawsuit filed against the Mississauga,Ontario, PACS developer by its former president and CEO ThomasCafarella. ISG said it needs time to determine whether it

GE Medical Systems last month increased its growing investmentin the equipment maintenance sector by agreeing to acquire twocompanies that market service-related products. GE bought theU.S. healthcare insurance business of Specialty Underwriters ofOak

Cost pressures push vendors into relationshipThe German pioneer of spiral CT scanning and the Israeli developerof innovative dual-slice CT systems have agreed in principle tocooperate on the future development of CT technology. The twocompanies,

InSight to form separate open MRI subsidiaryWhat's in a name? Ask that question of InSight Health Services.The Newport Beach, CA, imaging services provider believes it'sgetting more than just an imaging center with its proposed acquisitionof

Company retools business plan after healthcare reformLinear accelerator developer PracSys is planning to develop anetwork of PET imaging centers using linear accelerators ratherthan cyclotrons to produce fluorodeoxyglucose. The company hasalso

PACS software developer Cemax-Icon is laying plans to launch itslong-awaited initial public offering as soon as the IPO marketregains its footing. Executives with the Fremont, CA, companysay they should be able to launch the offering within five daysof

Star also settles patent infringement suitGE Medical Systems this month paid Star Technologies $9.4 millionto settle a breach-of-contract case related to CT reconstructionprocessors Star supplied to GE for four years (SCAN 5/8/96 and3/27/96).

Allegations claim GE restricts competition in MontanaThe Justice Department filed suit this month against GE MedicalSystems, alleging that its licensing policies limiting accessto maintenance software for its CT and MRI products violate

Medical imaging executive Thomas Cafarella has filed a lawsuitagainst PACS software developer ISG Technologies, charging thecompany with breach of contract after it fired him as presidentand CEO earlier this month. Cafarella has the support of a groupof

Donald Southard has left his position as vice president of salesand marketing at Elscint's U.S. subsidiary in Hackensack, NJ,for a position at cardiac monitoring firm Datascope. Southard'sdeparture was amicable, according to Dr. Thomas Spackman,

Japanese multimodality vendor Toshiba has named a new presidentof its Toshiba America Medical Systems subsidiary in Tustin, CA.Masamichi Katsurada replaces Kunio Sumikawa, who returns to Toshiba'sTokyo headquarters to lead the medical systems division's

Hitachi connection helps used MRI effortThe one-time Technicare executives who went on to popularize HitachiMRI scanners and Sopha gamma cameras are expanding into the usedequipment market. In the past year, Sitco, a company owned by Summit

Scanner capable of simultaneous operationsA big boost in computer processing power is the heart of a newCT scanner developed by Picker International. The new system,PQ 6000, stands at the top of the Cleveland vendor's CT productline and includes

Positron must raise $25 million to complete purchaseWearied by a moribund market registering worldwide sales of only$40 million a year, GE Medical Systems announced this month thatit intends to sell its manufacturing and product development