Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, announced that the first steps towards the comprehensive introduction of its ORBIS(TM) Clinical Information System (CIS) were successfully completed at the beginning of April at the Paracelsus hospital in Ruit and the district hospital in Plochingen. Only 15 months after the integration of the two hospitals with the Kirchheim-Nürtingen clinic to form the Esslingen district clinics, the implementation of uniform hospital software is further documentary proof of the growing together of the sites.
The Kirchheim-Nürtingen clinic has been using ORBIS since October 2001 and is a reference hospital for Agfa HealthCare in South Germany. With the introduction of the system in Ruit and Plochingen, a further 1,100 staff can now gain access to the leading clinical information system on the German market. Gerhard Bauer, Head of Department of the Esslingen district clinics, said: "We are pleased with the smooth introduction of ORBIS, which will allow the Esslingen district clinics to grow even closer together. The established experience of colleagues in Nürtingen and Kirchheim and our partner Agfa HealthCare has ensured high staff motivation from the project planning stage through to exemplary training with exercises in a test database. This has made the go-live process quick and successful."
ORBIS is available as of now for healthcare, medical and administrative tasks at all Esslingen district clinic sites. The complete ORBIS solution currently comprises in-patient management (admission, transfer and release), accounting, service center management, basic medical documentation, laboratory documentation and OP documentation. All five sites are linked via a radio network. Modern information technology has made laptop visits and electronic patient files a real possibility for the district clinics.
Mark A. Hoffmann, Sales Manager at Agfa HealthCare Germany, said: "ORBIS is the Latin word for circle. Together with our long-term partners at the Esslingen district clinics, we can be very satisfied with the textbook 'all-round' introduction of our clinical information system at all the clinic sites. It has really completed the circle, in the truest sense of the word."
About the Esslingen district clinics
As part of the structural hospital reform in the Esslingen district, the two hospitals of the Kirchheim-Nürtingen clinic were combined with the district hospital in Plochingen and the Paracelsus hospital in Ruit to form the Esslingen district clinics, with a total of 1166 beds. The district clinics employ over 2,700 staff and treat approximately 40,000 in-patients and 75,000 out-patients each year. The integration of the four modern hospitals in the Esslingen district has created a high level of specialization in the individual departments and thus ensured a rise in quality for patient treatment. For more information on the Esslingen district clinics, see http://www.kk-es.de.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing, processing and printing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. The company has over a century of experience in diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990s. Agfa HealthCare today employs 5,700 staff members, with sales offices and representatives in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2006 were 1452 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales.
For more info on Agfa please visit: www.agfa.com