Visage Imaging Inc, San Diego, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pro Medicus Ltd, has signed a five-year contract with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) for the Visage 7 Enterprise Imaging Platform. AHN is a subsidiary of Highmark Health, the third largest health care delivery and financing system in America, which is affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Visage 7 enables enterprise imaging with thin-client, server-side processing technology, as well as simple diagnostic mobile access via Visage Ease Pro.
The contract will see Visage 7 technology used for primary diagnosis across AHN, as well as clinical distribution of diagnostic images to 2,800 physicians throughout the AHN network via a single point of access to the AHN EHR.
AHN is a unified system comprised of eight acute care facilities, including Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Canonsburg Hospital, Forbes Hospital, Jefferson Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, Westfield Memorial Hospital, and West Penn Hospital. AHN’s integrated care portfolio has an urban, academic, and community focus, including over 2,000 beds and more than 200 locations. AHN is one of the largest health networks in the Pittsburgh metro area, providing care to 29 Pennsylvania counties, as well as portions of New York, Ohio and West Virginia.
“Visage 7’s prominence in enterprise imaging exemplifies the world class capabilities that we’re bringing to AHN,” said Paul M. Kiproff, Chair, AHN Department of Radiology. “Visage’s proven experience transforming imaging at many of the nation’s largest health systems was central to our decision making. Visage has successfully transitioned other institutions from the challenges and limitations of multiple legacy PACS to the absolute state-of-the-art.”
The contract is based on a transaction-based licensing model, and will see AHN implement Visage 7 as the key component of a Deconstructed PACS strategy designed to replace their numerous legacy PACS systems. AHN purchased a vendor neutral archive several years ago, and selected a workflow solution in 2014. Selection of Visage 7 is the capstone component of their strategy, and represents the culmination of AHN’s efforts to reinvent imaging across their network, Kiproff said.
“This is another key milestone for us and is a significant addition to our footprint in the North American market,” said Sam Hupert, CEO of Visage Imaging. “AHN is a large health network in an extremely competitive local healthcare environment. They were looking for a strategic advantage when it came to diagnostic imaging and importantly, how imaging studies, regardless of size, could be seamlessly distributed to their expansive base of referring clinicians. Once again, the strength of our technology and our proven capabilities were the deciding factors. The fact that they are part of Highmark Health, which is affiliated with the Blue Cross Blue Shield network, will also be positive for us going forward.”