Fuji CR put on military buying lists

Fuji Medical Systems is celebrating the placement of its computedradiography products on a medical equipment purchasing list maintainedby the Defense Personnel Support Center (DPSC). The move couldresult in the acquisition of up to $50 million worth of Fuji CRdevices by military hospitals and National Institutes of Healthfacilities over the next three years. Fuji, of Stamford, CT, hasbeen placed on a similar listing by the Department of VeteransAffairs for hospitals in its network.

The moves by the DPSC and the VA mean that hospitals interestedin buying Fuji CR devices will have less paperwork to completebefore buying the systems, according to John Strauss, nationalmarketing manager for CR products. Previously, military, VA, andNIH hospitals were required to submit an RFP (request for proposal)for each purchase, which was time-consuming. Now, Fuji CR systemsare available on a purchasing list from which hospitals can acquireequipment without going through the RFP process.

The $50 million figure is an estimate made by the DPSC of thetotal value of CR readers it expects military and NIH hospitalsto acquire over the life of the contract, which expires in 1999.

"It doesn't mean that they will buy $50 million, but wecertainly hope they will," Strauss said.

Fuji has been working with military and VA hospitals for sometime, Strauss said. Fuji has placed CR readers at hospitals participatingin the military diagnostic imaging support (MDIS) filmless-hospitalproject. It has also placed readers at combat support hospitalsin Bosnia and Hungary and on the U.S.S. George Washington, anaircraft carrier that was dispatched to the Adriatic Sea off Bosniain support of U.S. troops in that country.