Agfa partners with Maine Medical Center on the implementation of IMPAX hospital RIS/PACS

HIMSS Dallas, TX, February 14, 2005

Agfa HealthCare announces a partnership with Maine Medical Center of Portland, ME, in a clinical trial agreement to implement and integrate the IMPAXTM RIS (Radiology Information System) V5.4.1 and TalkStationTM V3.0 speech recognition solution with their existing Agfa IMPAX PACS (Picture Archiving Communications System) for unified, streamlined radiology workflow. The implementation is expected to be complete by June 2005.

"Our goal is to have integrated and streamlined RIS, PACS and Speech workflow, with a single point of accurate access to patient and exam information easily available to radiologists and clinical staff," said Bob Coleman, Radiology Informatics Director, Maine Medical Center. Exceptional patient care has always been the key focus for Maine Medical Center, and the increased efficiencies gained by their integrated RIS, PACS and speech recognition solution will enhance their ability to meet their patient care and referring physician satisfaction goals.

Maine Medical Center has a long-standing relationship with Agfa for their digital and conventional imaging solution needs and they found Agfa to be the perfect fit when they decided it was time to replace their existing RIS. "Agfa is the right choice for us because they can provide quality radiology workflow solutions, proven integration methods and a single, reliable source for service and support for all of these systems," added Coleman. The implementation process will include a data migration from Maine Medical Center's legacy RIS solution as well as HL7 interface deployments from the IMPAX RIS to existing mammography tracking and MPI systems.

Maine Medical Center is a non-profit 606-bed community hospital for the people of central and southern Maine, and is the premier tertiary care center for northern New England. The hospital provides comprehensive inpatient services in all medical specialties. Centers of excellence are being developed in cancer care, heartcare, children's services, and other areas building from existing excellence in multi-disciplinary services. MMC is also a teaching hospital, with active programs in undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate medical education. Research, with emphasis on application to patient care, is an integral part of MMC.

The MMC Department of Radiology conducts approximately 200,000 radiology procedures per year at five locations within the greater Portland community. Medical imaging modalities and services within the Department of Radiology include CT, MRI, Mammography, Neuroradiology, Nuclear Medicine, Pediatric Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Ultrasound and Vascular/Interventional Radiology. The Department also takes an active role in the teaching mission of MMC with a radiology residency program, and clinical education for technologist students in radiologic technology, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and MRI.

Agfa was one of the pioneers in synchronized RIS/PACS integration and now has nearly 100 integrated IMPAX RIS/PACS installations worldwide. Launched at RSNA 2004, is a North American RIS version with new functionality that supports the workflow needs of the North American market, including integration to IMPAX PACS and TalkStation as well as an accelerated focus on enterprise connectivity.

Agfa released its latest version of TalkStation 3.0 at RSNA 2004, which includes a variety of functions to improve productivity and recognition. Correctionist Workflow enables real-time speech recognition with on-the-fly deferral to a transcription editor; Auto Macros provides automatic insertion of demographic and other RIS information directly into report text; and Rededication allows dictation from any telephone. TalkStation utilizes ScanSoft® Dragon NaturallySpeaking® speech engine.

As a result of its continued development efforts, Agfa strengthens its global position as one of the frontrunners in PACS and RIS development and as a supplier of digital information management systems to radiology departments in hospitals ranging from small community hospitals to large, multi-site healthcare centers as well as outpatient imaging centers all over the globe.

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About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems, intended mainly for the graphics industry and the healthcare markets. Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is active in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. Together they achieved a turnover of 4,215 million euros in 2003.

Product and company information can be found on Agfa's home page on the World Wide Web at: www.agfa.com.

Agfa, the Agfa rhombus, IMPAX and See More. Do More. are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Belgium or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Contacts:

Geertrui De Smet

Global PR Manager HealthCare

tel.: +32 (0) 3 444 73 06

fax: +32 (0) 3 444 72 85

e-mail: geertruidesmet@agfapress.com

Jeff Lewis

Media Relations Manager HealthCare, North America

tel.: 201-440-2500 x4192

e-mail: jeff.lewis@agfa.com

Johan Jacobs

Corporate Press Relations Manager

tel.: +32 (0)3 444 80 15

fax: +32 (0)3 444 74 85

e-mail: johan.jacobs@agfa.com