Antelope Valley Hospital Chooses Algotec for Full PACS Installation; Major Los Angeles County Hospital has History of Technological Innovation.

Health & Medical Editors

DULUTH, Ga.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 28, 2000

Algotec, the innovative Picture Archiving and Communications System vendor (PACS), has been selected by Antelope Valley Health Systems (AVHS), a major provider of comprehensive health services in Northern Los Angeles County, to supply a software-only full PACS solution for enterprise-wide image distribution and management.

According to Ash Shehata, Chief Information Officer of AVHS, "A key challenge was selecting a vendor that could develop a system to integrate seamlessly with the new Web-based IDX radiology information system we were about to install at that time." Algotec was selected following an extensive search that included all major vendors.

"We wanted total integration so that either of the two systems could be accessed directly from within the other. Moreover, we needed strong teleradiology capabilities to communicate with our consulting radiology group in Los Angeles," he said.

AVHS radiologists also emphasized the need for speed, simplicity, flexibility, and full functionality. This included three-dimensional capability to handle the increasingly complex datasets being produced by AVHS' new multidetector CT scanners.

"Algotec proved to be best of breed across all dimensions, from web-based image distribution to complex 3D volume rendering," said Shehata. "Significantly, their comprehensive workflow solution had no rival among the systems I analyzed."

Antelope Valley is presently in the final phase of its Algotec PACS implementation, a process that has included the development of a wireless virtual private network to allow broadband access to its system from outlying offices and clinics.

Shehata notes that AVHS is a recogized national leader in the utilization of information systems to improve services while containing costs. Not surprisingly, in the course of the project, the health system partnered with a wide range of well-known vendors such as Microsoft, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, EMC, Storage-Tek, and Veritas.

"Algotec has been there every step of the way. From go live date on, the system has functioned flawlessly," comments Shehata. "From day one we began adding value and redefining the way medicine is practiced in our community, to the benefit of our patients, their physicians and our enterprise in its entirety."

Algotec Systems Ltd. is a developer and system integrator of Web-based image management, archiving, processing and communication systems sold under the name ImagiNet. With headquarters in Israel and fully owned marketing and sales subsidiaries in the US (Duluth, GA), France (Paris), Germany (Wiesbaden) and Italy (Milan), the company's products are installed in more than 800 healthcare institutions worldwide.

Algotec's ImagiNet family of solutions includes the ProVision- a 3D multi modality processing workstation, MediPrime - a radiology reading and reporting station, MediSurf - a Web based image and data access and display engine, MediStore - a multi media, multi tier archiving system, MediFlow - image management software, MediLink - a configurable interface to healthcare information systems, Med-e-Mail - an automatic email reporing sustem of key images and reports to referring physicians and CD-Surf - a self playing, soft copy (CD) media to substitute the films that are now given to patients and referring physicians.

Algotec, Inc in Duluth, Ga. may be reached by calling 770-291-2022. Or visit their website at www.algotec.com