San Francisco’s Chinese Hospital Selects KODAK Digital Image, Information Management Systems

(I-Newswire) August 7, 2005 - Chinese Hospital is an independent, community-owned 54-bed hospital that serves the Chinese population living in Chinatown and the greater San Francisco Bay area. Hospital administrators decided to replace manual processes with an efficient digital workflow that could provide better service to patients and physicians-while simultaneously accommodating continued growth in imaging volumes.

The hospital purchased RIS/PACS (radiology information system/picture archiving and communications system) elements of the KODAK CARESTREAM Radiology Suite to automate the scheduling, viewing, storage, billing and reporting for all radiology exams. Chinese Hospital also purchased KODAK DIRECTVIEW CR 850 and CR 950 computed radiography systems for the digital capture of x-ray imaging studies. Kodak's Professional Services group will provide project management, workflow analysis and network upgrades to ensure a smooth transition to an all-digital workflow.

"We approached the conversion to digital technology with both excitement and caution. With our limited budget, we could not afford to make any mistakes in the selection of a vendor or equipment. Kodak impressed us with their team's thorough evaluation of our workflow, and their willingness to talk to our staff and design a scalable solution that will meet our needs for many years to come," said Brenda Yee, CEO, Chinese Hospital.

The new digital platform will support the hospital's desire to offer distributed imaging services throughout the Bay area. Imaging studies and radiology reports will be immediately available to physicians at the hospital and at remote offices and clinics.

"Kodak's digital imaging technology is an attractive investment because it provides immediate efficiencies and enables us to expand our geographic reach to drive continued revenue growth from radiology services," said Roger Eng, MD, Chinese Hospital's Chief of Radiology and Senior Partner of Delta Radiology Medical Group of Lodi, Calif.

The KODAK RIS 2010 will include voice recognition and a referring physician web portal for scheduling, tracking and results viewing while the KODAK DIRECTVIEW PACS System 5 will be equipped with flexible Web-based software to allow remote reading by the hospital's radiology group and distribution of imaging studies and reports to specialists and referring physicians.

Selection Process Included Five Vendors

A multi-disciplinary team from Chinese Hospital evaluated five vendors as part of its selection process for RIS/PACS and CR systems.

"In our view, Kodak offers a tighter integration between RIS and voice dictation than other vendors and its RIS/PACS offers an integration solution with excellent scalability and functionality. We evaluated CR platforms separately and selected Kodak's CR systems because of their excellent image quality and ease of use," said Dr. Eng.

In addition to its equipment purchase, the hospital also signed an agreement to act as a showcase facility for Kodak's digital platforms.

About Chinese Hospital

Located in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown, Chinese Hospital is a unique healthcare provider with a long and rich history of providing access to health care services for the Chinese community. Chinese Hospital is a 54-bed, acute care, community-owned, non-profit hospital offering a wide range of medical, surgical and specialty programs. It exists primarily to deliver quality health care in a cost-effective way, is responsive to the community's ethnic and cultural uniqueness and is accessible to all socioeconomic levels. For more information, please visit www.chinesehospital-sf.org.

About Kodak's Health Group

Kodak's Health Group, with 2004 revenues of $2.68 billion, supplies the medical and dental professions with traditional and digital imaging and information systems. Its portfolio includes picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS), IT solutions, clinical information solutions, computed and digital radiography systems, laser imagers, mammography and oncology systems, x-ray film systems, and dental imaging products. Its services portfolio includes everything from repair and maintenance, to professional services encompassing integration, storage and archiving, secure e-mail services – and much more.

Kodak's other major businesses include: Graphic Communications – providing customers with a range of solutions for prepress, traditional and digital printing, and document scanning and multi-vendor IT services; Digital & Film Imaging Systems – providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; and Display & Components – supplying original equipment manufacturers with imaging sensors as well as intellectual property and materials for the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and LCD display industries.

For more information about Kodak (NYSE:EK) contact your Kodak representative or visit www.kodak.com.


Note: KODAK, DIRECTVIEW and CARESTREAM are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company

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