Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, announced today that it has entered into a sales and marketing agreement with Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. (Hitachi) whereby Hitachi will promote Agfa HealthCare's complete portfolio of Direct Radiography (DR) and Computed Radiography (CR) solutions to its large and growing community of MRI and CT customers in the United States, including hospitals, imaging centers and orthopedic clinics. Agfa HealthCare's service and applications organization will provide all support services, giving Hitachi customers access to Agfa HealthCare's team of specialists for optimal customer satisfaction.
"This strategic alliance with Agfa HealthCare will expand Hitachi's radiology product portfolio in the U.S. into a more comprehensive offering of imaging technologies, including MRI, CT, Ultrasound (through Hitachi Aloka Medical America) and now DR and CR, which will allow us to further leverage our current sales and marketing activities, while better servicing the wide ranging needs of our customers. The impressive dose reduction, image quality and throughput of Agfa HealthCare's DR and CR products and their commitment to operational excellence convinced us they are the ideal solution provider to further expand our product offerings to our customers," commented Don Broomfield, CEO and President, Hitachi.
Agfa HealthCare's complete DR and CR portfolios are designed to meet the digital imaging needs of any size facility, from high-throughput radiology and emergency departments to outpatient imaging centers and clinics. In addition to complete imaging systems, Hitachi's customers will benefit from the advantages of Agfa HealthCare's mobile DR systems and vendor-neutral DR retrofit solutions, which enable the upgrade of existing radiography systems to DR performance in a cost-effective fashion, providing a fast return on investment.
Agfa HealthCare's DR solutions, when used with the patented MUSICA image processing and Cesium Iodide (CsI) detectors, allow dose reductions of up to 60%*, compared to conventional CR and DR technologies, giving health care providers more control over dose management during each X-ray exam. In addition, MUSICA software brings multi-scaled image processing to a new level by showing excellent detail in low noise images that allow customers to consistently capture images with market-leading image quality.
"We are very pleased to be working with Hitachi Medical Systems America. Being chosen by a highly successful provider of innovative, high quality imaging technology is a testament to the unique value proposition our DR and CR solutions offer healthcare providers. As the leader in Open MRI technology and outpatient imaging, Hitachi offers us access to a market segment we are not traditionally focused on - fueling future growth of our imaging business - especially in DR. I am confident they will find success upgrading their MRI and CT customers to DR technology and providing their users with the clinical benefits of Agfa HealthCare systems," said Bill Corsten, Regional President, Agfa HealthCare North America. "Hitachi's success is based on unique state-of-the-art imaging technology and a very strong commitment to customer support and satisfaction. We are proud that our DR and CR portfolio will become a part of their customer offering."
*Testing by Agfa HealthCare with board certified Radiologists has determined that Cesium Bromide (CR) and Cesium Iodide (DR) Detectors when used with MUSICA processing can provide dose reductions between 50 to 60% when compared to traditional Barium Fluoro Bromide CR systems. Contact Agfa HealthCare for more details.
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- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,865 million euro in 2013.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2013 were 1,160 million euro.