In a deal aimed at broadening its PACS portfolio, GE Healthcare of Chalfont St. Giles, U.K., has acquired PACS vendor Dynamic Imaging (DI) of Allendale, NJ.
Under terms of the agreement, GE adds Dynamic Imaging's Web-based IntegradWeb suite of products to its PACS line, allowing the vendor to expand its information technology products and services across a broad range of healthcare concerns, including hospital integrated delivery networks (IDNs), community hospitals, outpatient imaging centers, radiology group practices, and physician offices.
"This is a perfect fit from our point of view," said Don Woodlock, vice president and global manager at GE, in a conference call. "We see Dynamic Imaging's offerings as complementary to GE's existing IT business, and this deal fast forwards us into the Web-based PACS market."
GE's Centricity PACS software has been targeted primarily at academic centers, Woodlock said, while Dynamic Imaging's market has been outpatient imaging centers and small hospitals. By combining the two companies' customer bases, GE hopes to penetrate markets that have heretofore been more difficult to serve.
"Our PACS systems have been adopted at the high end of the healthcare spectrum," Woodlock said. "But now the most active PACS adoption is happening in community hospitals, physician offices, and outpatient centers. Dynamic Imaging has brought Web-based PACS to these customers. Now GE can bring its enormous distribution, sales, and service strength to the mix."
Founded in 1991, Dynamic Imaging is considered by many industry observers to be a leading PACS vendor in the outpatient imaging and community hospital market. Like GE, the combination of the two firms will expand DI's reach, according to president and CEO Alex Jurovitsky.
"DI has been successful in developing tools that assist workflow in the outpatient imaging center environment," Jurovitsky said. "Now, by offering an ambulatory workflow solution in conjunction with GE's Centricity PACS, we'll be able to facilitate a flow of information and help clinicians access data in markets that weren't accessible before."
Dynamic Imaging will run as an independent unit within GE, and its senior management team will stay in place, Woodlock said, headed by Jurovitsky. As for determining how the two companies' products will be integrated, that process begins now, according to Woodlock.
"We're starting dialogue with our customers today to begin integrating our and DI's products," he said. "And we're inviting our customers to visit us at RSNA so we can demonstrate what the integration will look like."
By Kate Madden Yee
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
October 11, 2007
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