Kodak to implement PACS in Tuscany

Kodak has agreed a five year deal worth €20m to install its Carestream software in the south-east region of Tuscany, Italy.

Carestream PACS and information management solutions will be deployed in 14 hospitals, allowing them to centrally archive, view and manage the records of over 800,000 patients. The hospitals handle over a million radiological examinations each year.

A Kodak spokesperson told E-Health Insider: “The tender has been awarded in partnership with General Electrics (GE) and a local company called Industrial Software (INSO). Kodak is leading the association. The customer chose Kodak and its partners for the strong experience and competence of the team, for the quality of the project and for the value added offered by our RIS/PACS solution.”

The project will provide a unified system to allow sharing of information, clinical data, medical reports and images produced by the radiology services of the hospitals in the area, including the local health centres of Siena, Arezzo and Grosseto and the University Hospital of Siena.

Kodak says that it will provide an efficient method for managing information and images, captured by a variety of diagnostic imaging modalities, to create image-enabled electronic medical records.

On each node of the network, identical server pairs manage the flow of images and coordinate the phases of information archiving, consultation and distribution.

The spokesperson added: “Initial roll out of the new system has led to numerous and important benefits at many levels including increased efficiency, rationalisation of processes and significant workflow improvements within the hospital structures involved.

“Patients will see improved operational activities, an optimised health service, less management and fewer service costs.” The deal includes a four year maintenance guarantee .

Chief executive of ESTAV South East, one of the three sub-regional technical and administrative service units in Tuscany, Francesco Vannoni, said: “Today, after several months of operation, we can say that we have a system that is performing excellently. From Kodak we have received commitment, participation, collaboration and punctuality.

“It is true that the structure has required heavy investment, but we have calculated that within five to eight years the cost of implementing this technology will be repaid, and from then on we will see only the benefits.”

In the UK, NHS Scotland and the BUPA hospitals network have signed up to the Carestream software,