In recognition of Agfa HealthCare's strong overall performance of its direct radiography (DR) portfolio, the company announces that it has received Frost & Sullivan's 2016 North American Product Leadership Award for Digital Radiography. The research group said that Agfa's "complete portfolio of digital, fixed, mobile, and retrofit DR systems, as well as impressive radiography advancements, have earned a solid reputation for service excellence and product reliability."
A cornerstone of Agfa's DR value proposition for customers is MUSICA. Agfa HealthCare's radiation dose is potentially up to 60 percent lower than conventional systems when MUSICA processing is used with Cesium Bromide (CR) and Cesium Iodide (DR) detectors. MUSICA processing also enhances image quality and improves workflow. The radiation dose reduction claim has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration under the 510(k) pre-market process.
Automatic image optimization and quality control
MUSICA, which stands for Multi-Scale Image Contrast Amplification, is an image-processing algorithm that differentiates Agfa HealthCare's DR solutions from other systems. This software optimizes and quality-controls images automatically, while competitors' products require operators to manually adjust contrast, density, sharpness, and other elements to augment image quality.
Agfa HealthCare's dedication to helping its customers achieve the optimum value proposition when using its products in this era of declining reimbursements will be a central theme at the industry's next chance to see the company's strong product line on display. At AHRA 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee, Agfa HealthCare will spotlight the wireless, mobile DX-D 100 with FreeView telescopic column. Agfa representatives will be ready to show not only how the products function within the radiology workflow, but how they can help health systems face an increasingly tumultuous economic environment for care providers. In addition to learning about productivity gains supported by MUSICA, AHRA attendees will be able to discuss how to secure funding for DR even with reduced capital budgets.
Standarized image quality, low dose imaging and best productivity
"Now in its third generation, MUSICA is the engine that generates the crisp and detailed images produced by all of Agfa HealthCare's radiography equipment," said Frost & Sullivan Consultant Poornima Srinivasan. "The company offers standardized image quality, low dose imaging, and the best productivity across its imaging enterprise and radiography fleet."
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality, gaining rapid acceptance in the market. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.
For its Product Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated two key factors, Product Family Attributes and Business Impact, using a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool allows their researchers to objectively analyze performance, according to the key benchmarking criteria, and to assign ratings on that basis.
Lenny J. Reznik, Vice President, Marketing, Agfa HealthCare North America, comments: "Agfa HealthCare is committed to making the benefits of DR available to every healthcare enterprise, regardless of size or budget. We are very proud that our efforts have been recognized by Frost & Sullivan with the North American Product Leadership Award. Our DR solutions will be among the solutions we will exhibit at AHRA 2016. We look forward to showing visitors how our comprehensive portfolio can support them to achieve higher quality images, increased productivity and a smoother, more efficient workflow."
Related news articles:
- 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.