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Philips Partners With Seattle Systems To Provide Integrated Information Management In Cardiology

(Best, The Netherlands)--October 8, 1998 Today, Philips Medical Systems announced a strategic alliance with Seattle Systems Inc., a leading developer of clinical information systems. Philips' expertise in cardiac imaging systems and imaging networks, combined with Seattle Systems' experience in cardiovascular information management systems, will give hospitals the ability to integrate X-ray images, patient monitoring and other diagnostic data in cardiology.

Virginia Mason Medical Center, a 336-bed facility in Seattle, Washington, is currently implementing a cardiac information management system supported through the Philips and Seattle Systems partnership. Virginia Mason's Heart Center handles over 2000 diagnostic and 600 interventional procedures each year. The Heart Center's three catheterization laboratories feature Philips' state-of-the-art technology, specifically three Integris imaging systems. In addition, the Philips Inturis for Cardiology system provides for over 500 imaging exams on-line and has eliminated the need for conventional cine film at Virginia Mason.

"In the digital age, the "ultimate" cath lab needs to be much more than just image resolution and a positioner. It requires the ability to store and network images rapidly without loss of resolution, automate patient demographics, inventory and generate reports," said Dr. Ken Mahrer, Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle, Washington. "Having Philips and Seattle Systems, with their respective expertise working together towards a common goal, brings the reality of the 'ultimate' cath lab much closer."

The project at Virginia Mason is an innovative step towards comprehensive cardiovascular disease management, designed to improve the quality of patient care through efficient resource management. It integrates imaging and hemodynamic data into the comprehensive Apollo cardiovascular information system from Seattle Systems. In addition, it establishes a single point-of-entry for all patient demographics, providing a complete, integrated patient medical record, including electronically generated clinical notes and observations, available for clinical or administrative use. The automated acquisition and reporting of voluminous critical data promises to save physician time, eliminate redundant reporting requirements, eliminate manual data entry errors, enable automated distribution of final reports and allow easy retrospective analysis.

The system provides all clinical and diagnostic data necessary to support clinical outcomes analyses. As a result, hospitals can generate the quality assessment reports required for benchmark standard comparisons. In the next phase of the project, Philips intends to provide this same seamless integration of cardiac information for other hospitals.

"Philips Medical Systems is extremely pleased to partner with Seattle Systems in providing integrated cardiology solutions for our customers. This partnership shows our continued commitment to develop and introduce products and services that have the potential to improve the quality of cardiac patient care significantly, while reducing costs and enhancing efficiency," said Willem Vuisting, Director Cardio/Vascular, Philips Medical Systems.

Seattle Systems' Apollo suite of clinical data management software offers a wide range of capabilities, from administrative support to clinically proven disease management modules. The system integrates information throughout the cardiovascular department, interfacing with most leading hemodynamic equipment and the hospital information system.

According to Allyn McAuley, President of Seattle Systems, the collaboration will provide a further expansion of the company's open-architecture integration strategy. "For the past eight years, we have focused our attention on automating the process of information access and display in the cardiovascular environment. It is our goal to work with every major manufacturer of clinical diagnostic modalities to make subsets of the expert diagnostic data available on any workstation anywhere in the point-of-care environment," said McAuley. "The collaboration with Philips and Virginia Mason is a key ingredient in this strategy. Philips is a leading imaging provider in the cardiovascular setting, and Virginia Mason is a visionary leader in cardiac care delivery. With this new system, and its future enhancements, physicians will be able to view these critical images in the context of a full range of other diagnostic data provided by multiple manufacturers," McAuley added.

Seattle Systems' key integration partners include Siemens Electro Medical, with which it is developing a comprehensive integrated data management system with special focus on ECG management, critical care and hemodynamic monitoring. The company has an alliance with Hewlett-Packard, and is part of the Open Cardiology Initiative. Seattle Systems is also an alliance partner of Guidant Corporation, with which it is developing certain products and jointly marketing within the field of invasive cardiology and cardiac rhythm management,” concluded McAuley.

Seattle Systems serves the clinical data management needs of more than 200 medical centers worldwide, including Stanford University Hospital, Yale-New Haven, Baylor, Johns Hopkins and the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam. The company is privately held, with offices in Oakland, California; Bellevue, Washington; and the United Kingdom.

Philips Medical Systems is a leading supplier of imaging systems and related services worldwide. Philips products are backed by a worldwide network of research and development, sales and service. Philips Medical Systems is part of Royal Philips Electronics. News from Philips Medical Systems is located on the internet at HTTP://www.medical.philips.com.

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world"s biggest electronics companies, with sales of over $39 billion (U.S.) in 1997. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, home telephony products and electric shavers. Its 264,700 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of semiconductors and components, consumer products, professional products and systems, lighting, software and services. Philips is quoted on the NYSE, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at HTTP://www.news.philips.com.

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