SECTRA PACS Rated Highest in Performance by US Customers

SECTRA PACS Rated Highest in Performance by US Customers Sectra - the medical technology and IT company - has with its radiological IT system, PACS, received the top overall rating in Picture Archiving and Communications Systems performance according to a report issued by research and consulting firm KLAS of Draper, Utah. KLAS recently completed a customer survey of 143 healthcare institutions in the US using PACS and evaluated the systems of eight leading vendors. Sectra delivers PACS in North America through its long-term partner Philips Medical Systems. The independent KLAS report of Customer Satisfaction in PACS The main purpose of the KLAS study was to compare the performance of eight of the major US PACS vendors as seen through the eyes of their clients. The secondary purpose was to gain a better understanding about the vendors' underlying technology, product depth and breadth, success in delivering these products and relevant history. PACS networks installed by Agfa, Canon Medical Systems, DR Systems, GE Medical Systems, Kodak Health Imaging, Marconi Medical Systems, Philips (Sectra PACS), and Siemens Medical Solutions were surveyed. KLAS specifically selected these vendors because of their market share and because they are the most commonly evaluated vendors in today's typical search for a PACS in the USA. The participating vendors supplied KLAS with their key customer lists, from which the majority of surveyed clients were selected. KLAS also surveyed installations referred by the institutions on the key customer lists. Each of the customers were asked to numerically rate their vendor on 28 aspects of their performance, and to answer 13 questions relating to customer satisfaction. Philips selling Sectra's PACS topped the ranking as the solution with best overall performance. Not the first win Sectra PACS has been acknowledged consistently as providing the superior solution to end customers. Last year, Sectra received similar accolades in a study conducted at the Hannover Medical School in Germany. In that study, six market-leading PACS workstations were evaluated by a team of radiologists for ease of use and performance. Sectra rated highest in all of the categories evaluated. These categories included general speed and ease of use, ability to access, load and compare prior images and the graphical integration of these reports, speed and image quality of both cross-sectional imaging and conventional imaging, and speed and convenience for preparing and performing a clinical presentation. Customer obsession "We are extremely proud that our PACS solution so well satisfies the clinical and business requirements of our customers in the U.S.", says Dr. John Goble, president of Sectra North America in Shelton, Connecticut. "Sectra has been the technology leader, building standards- based systems using commercial, off-the-shelf components that protect customers from technological obsolescence. But this result shows that from the customer's perspective - and that's the one that really counts - that our partnership with Philips really works. Customers get the best of both worlds: a nimble, responsive development organization from SECTRA, that can quickly respond to changing requirements, and the experienced and stable sales, delivery and service organizations from our partner Philips. It shows, categorically, that our philosophy of "Customer obsession" works in real life!" About KLAS Enterprises KLAS, founded in 1996, is the only research and consulting firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare's information technology (HIT) vendors. KLAS' staff and advisory board average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. KLAS, in concert with thousands of healthcare executives, CIOs, directors, managers and clinicians has created a dynamic database of information on the performance of HIT Vendors. The KLAS database represents the opinions of healthcare executives, managers and clinicians from over 3000 healthcare facilities on 180+ vendors and 300+ different products. The information is continually refreshed with new performance evaluations and interviews daily. Visit KLAS on the web at www.healthcomputing.com. Sectra and Philips Medical Systems Sectra has an eight year old partnership with Philips Medical Systems in PACS. Philips distributes Sectra's PACS internationally under its own name. It also integrates Sectra PACS with its own products in medical IT. Sectra in Medicine Sectra is one of the world's leading company's in systems for image processing (PACS) for digital X-rays. A number of Swedish and foreign hospitals use the system daily. Supported by Sectra's systems, many hospitals today without using X-ray film. Some examples are the Sunderbyn Hospital in northern Sweden, Tönbergs Hospital in Norway and all the hospitals in Örebro County in Sweden. Sectra has also received large PACS orders from the Värmland, Östergötland County Councils, Huddinge and Södertälje Hospitals in Sweden, as well as to several large hospitals in the US and in Germany, the latter through its partnership with Philips Medical Systems. For more information please contact: Torbjörn Kronander, president Sectra Imtec AB, +46 705-23 52 27, to-kro@sectra.se Jan-Olof Brüer, CEO Sectra AB, + 46 13-23 52 09, job@sectra.se Welcome to http://www.sectra.se Sectra's operations Since the mid-1980s, Sectra has successfully conducted development and sales of high-technology medical IT and telecommunications products. Today, the business includes products in medical systems, secure communication systems and wireless information systems. The medical systems business of Sectra is conducted in Sectra Imtec AB, one of the world's leading companies in the field of digital medical image processing systems. Sectra AB is located in the Mjärdevi Science Park in Linköping and its origins are based on research conduced at Linköping University. Business is conducted in six countries with a total of 185 employees. Sales for the fiscal year 2000/2001 reached SEK 292 million. Since March 1999, Sectra's shares have been quoted on the O-List of the Stockholm Exchange. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/01/20010801BIT00360/bit0003.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/01/20010801BIT00360/bit0003.pdf