Enterprise image management firm Emageon of Birmingham, AL, has merged with image visualization software developer UltraVisual Medical Systems, effective May 30. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal positions Emageon as a full-line PACS provider, and a firm equipped to meet the image management needs of image-intensive specialties such as orthopedics, neurology, pathology, oncology, and pulmonology, Emageon chairman and CEO Chuck Jett told AuntMinnie.com.
"The importance of imagery outside the radiology department is accelerating," Jett said. "The ability to address non-radiology needs is what the definition of enterprise PACS software is all about."
In addition to its own advanced visualization capabilities, UltraVisual's Java-based VisualPACS technology is a platform that allows for third-party visualization software to be used as plug-ins, which adds additional value, Jett said.
"We're really positioning (ourselves) to serve the extended healthcare enterprise in a standards-based way to facilitate the adoption of imagery across the enterprise," he said.
The two companies are already familiar with each other, having partnered on enterprise PACS installations at 18 hospitals in the last two quarters. The new company headquarters will be in Birmingham, with visualization software development continuing at UltraVisual's Madison, WI, location.
The combined company's current legal name is Emageon-UV, but a rebranding is planned to coincide with this year's RSNA meeting, Jett said. At the upcoming Symposium for Computer Applications in Radiology in Boston, Emageon and UltraVisual will each have their own booths.
UltraVisual made its corporate debut in 2001, launching its Java-based VisualPACS software at the RSNA meeting that year. UltraVisual co-founder, CEO, and chairman Mark Gehring will stay on as the firm's chief technology officer for image visualization, and Emageon doesn't anticipate any UltraVisual employees leaving the combined company, Jett said. In addition, Emageon plans to invest in and expand the UV operations in Madison, he said.
By Erik L. RidleyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
June 5, 2003
Related Reading
Emageon cinches contract with Virtua Health, April 29, 2003
Emageon lands LibertyHealth account, April 2, 2003
Emageon signs PACS deal with Baptist Health, December 13, 2003
UltraVisual integrates IHE into VisualPACS, December 19, 2002
UltraVisual debuts with thin-client PACS, November 27, 2001
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