Philips and Georgia Regents Medical Center Announce Roll-Out of Enterprise-Wide Clinical IT Platform to Improve Workflows and Enhance Patient Care

ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG AEX: PHIA) today announced a key milestone in its 15-year alliance with Georgia Regents Medical Center (GRMC) with the installation of Philips IntelliSpace PACS version 4.4, a single, integrated clinical IT platform that allows clinicians to access a patient's complete imaging history from any department across the care continuum. The system will not only provide clinicians with a more holistic view of a patient's health, but will also enable GRMC to extend access to imaging data to its more remote regional care facilities. The unique managed service delivery model of Philips IntelliSpace PACS encompasses total cost of ownership, simplifies IT operations and provides built-in flexibility, scalability and interoperability.

"The role of technology is to ease the burden on clinicians and allow them to focus on what truly matters – patient care," said James V. Rawson, MD, FACR, Chief of Radiologic Services at Georgia Regents Medical Center. "This new Picture Archiving and Communication System from Philips enables us to store, access, and review everything from old X-ray films to the most advanced digital images in all modalities, including PET, CT, MRI, and ultrasound. Having a patient's complete medical history and images incorporated into the electronic medical record (EMR) and readily available will improve patient outcomes and lower costs."

The pilot installation at GRMC started with radiology and will expand to cardiology, obstetrics and all other imaging services over the next few months.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS is part of the growing portfolio  within Philips recently-launched Healthcare Informatics Solutions and Services Group, which offers consulting and solutions services to hospitals and health systems as they pursue new, more effective models to improve access, optimize workflows and increase quality across the continuum of care. IntelliSpace PACS interoperability with the EMR provides relevant data and collaboration throughout the enterprise to significantly advance workflow management, diagnostic imaging and reporting.

"Innovative health systems like Georgia Regents are moving to new business models of patient-centric care, recognizing that  accessible and accurate imaging data is a critical piece of the puzzle," said Jeroen Tas, chief executive officer, Philips Healthcare Informatics Solutions and Services. "This is just one of the system-wide, interoperable solutions we'll be implementing at Georgia Regents to enable clinicians to better collaborate on diagnosis and treatment, provide broader insight into patient data and expand high quality healthcare to areas where it's needed most."

Philips IntelliSpace PACS consolidates and stores multi-vendor clinical images from multiple departments across several systems, managing virtually all medical images from radiology, cardiology, dermatology, endoscopy, ophthalmology and more. Its multi-modality advanced visualization capabilities support clinical decision-making virtually anywhere, anytime, providing clinical insights where and when it matters most.  

In June 2013, Philips and GRMC entered into a 15-year $300 million agreement to improve outcomes and deliver more effective and cost-efficient care to the four to six million people who live in the region across Georgia and South Carolina being served through GRMC, Children's Hospital of Georgia, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center and the health system's numerous outpatient clinics. The installation of Philips IntelliSpace PACS delivers on Philips' commitment to create a more patient-centered approach to care and an innovative business model that addresses current and future clinical, operational and equipment needs of GRMC's multiple sites.

"The shared ownership with Philips allows us access to scalable innovations, at a predictable cost and without interrupting workflow. We see this as a critical element to expanding quality care across the Southeast, the nation, and the world," added Rawson.

For more information on Philips' presence at HIMSS, including Philips IntelliSpace PACS and the full suite of Philips interoperable software, solutions and services connecting the enterprise, visit www.philips.com/HIMSS and follow the #HIMSS14 conversation @PhilipsHealth. 

About Royal Philips:
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2013 sales of EUR 23.3 billion and employs approximately 115,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Georgia Regents:
Georgia Regents Medical Center is a not-for-profit corporation in Augusta, Georgia that provides clinical operations as a cooperative organization for Georgia Regents University. The 478-bed Medical Center includes a Critical Care Center, housing the region's only Level I trauma center ; the 154-bed Children's Hospital of Georgia, providing the highest level of pediatric critical care and neonatal intensive care; and more than 80 outpatient clinics that provide primary and specialty care. Georgia Regents physicians are consistently ranked among the nation's best in both America's Top Doctors® and Best Doctors in America®.

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SOURCE Royal Philips