Siemens adds PACS partnerships

Siemens Medical Systems has been active in forming alliances for its PACS program. At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in February, the Iselin, NJ-based vendor entered into a strategic alliance with RIS firm IDX Systems. The two companies had been working together at the Cleveland Clinic, where they have integrated the multimodality vendor’s PACS and modality network with IDX’s IDXrad RIS offering.

The nonexclusive agreement allows each company to jointly participate in marketing, sales, and installation efforts in North America. As a result of their collaboration at the Cleveland Clinic, Siemens and Burlington, VT-based IDX say they have achieved true integration of RIS and PACS, and have eliminated the need for a traditional PACS/RIS interface.

The agreement isn’t the only PACS partnership announced by Siemens recently. The company has also formed a nonexclusive co-marketing agreement with archiving firm StorageTek. Staff from both Siemens and Louisville, CO-based StorageTek will meet jointly with clients in complicated PACS purchasing situations, according to the firms.