Siemens Healthineers' company Varian announced a 10-year agreement with not-for-profit Ballad Health as part of a rural oncology healthcare network covering the corners of four Southeastern states.
Called a transformational oncology collaboration, the project encompasses rural northeastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia, northwestern North Carolina, and southeastern Kentucky, according to Varian. The Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health system will deploy advanced treatment technology through an integrated digital network.
Ballad consists of 20 hospitals, postacute care, and behavioral health services, and a large multispecialty group physician practice. The project involves eight TrueBeam linear accelerators and one Ethos adaptive radiotherapy system to be delivered to six sites in Tennessee and Virginia, enabling Ballad Health to accelerate its schedule to implement newer linac technology, Varian said in the announcement. Aria Core, a cloud-based system, will replace a series of separate, localized systems to provide a holistic view of patient information.
Under the agreement, Varian will also support a technology roadmap, enabling Ballad to adapt to future technology advancements, according to the firm.
