GE closes in on Applicare purchase

GE Medical Systems is reportedly in the final stages of closing its acquisition of Dutch PACS developer Applicare Medical Imaging, according to sources close to the companies. If the deal does go through, it will give GE an important boost in penetrating the European market for PACS installations.

Milwaukee-based GE and Zeist-based Applicare have been in discussions for the past several months regarding a possible business combination. The companies held similar discussions in 1997 that never panned out.

Applicare was founded in 1987 but didn’t begin to achieve widespread recognition until 1994, when its RadWorks image review software was introduced. RadWorks quickly became known as one of the more robust and cost-effective PACS viewing products, and Applicare has been successful in signing numerous agreements to supply the software to such medical imaging OEMs as Kodak and Picker. Applicare also provides RadWorks to the IBM team in the DIN-PACS project.

While GE already has its own PACS product line, the NT-based Pathspeed software, Applicare will give the company better distribution in Europe. Applicare will reportedly continue to maintain its OEM relationships once the acquisition goes through. Representatives from both companies declined to comment on the sale.