Practice Fusion and ZyDoc Integrate
San Francisco-based Practice Fusion has formed a strategic relationship with Hauppauge, N.Y.-based ZyDoc Medical Transcription that will allow phone- or recorder-produced ZyDoc dictation notes to flow into any Practice Fusion EMR, Practice Fusion says.
Philips and Elsevier Work Together
Vienna, Austria-headquartered Royal Philips Electronics and Amsterdam-based Elsevier are integrating their products to provide radiologists with better decision support.
Specifically, Philips' SpeechMagic will be integrated with Elsevier's new RadConsult radiology diagnostic reference system in an effort to assist radiologists in increasing productivity and reducing medical errors during review and diagnosis of patient cases, the companies say. This new system, the duo tout, will also allow customers and the partners of both parties to use industrial-grade speech recognition with access to radiological information.
RadConsult is designed to improve the diagnostic efficiency of the radiologist. Radiology images and differential diagnosis content are delivered through a Web site and organized around the radiologist's workflow.
Omnicell to Acquire Rioux Vision
Mountain View, Calif.-based Omnicell Inc. plans to acquire Elgin, S.C.-based Rioux Vision Inc. in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $26 million.
Omnicell is a provider of system solutions to acute healthcare facilities, while Rioux Vision is a designer and manufacturer of mobile cart technology for bedside point-of-care medication management.
Under terms of the agreement, Omnicell will acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Rioux Vision, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Omnicell. Closing of the transaction was expected to occur in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2007, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Philips Snapping up Emergin
Amsterdam-based Royal Philips Electronics is acquiring Boca Raton, Fla.-based Emergin Inc., a provider of software that transmits medical alarm signals throughout hospitals.
According to Philips, the acquisition will allow it to expand its presence in the patient monitoring business, enabling it to integrate the functionality offered by Emergin's software directly into Philips' current and future patient monitoring products. Philips also expects to capitalize on Emergin's relations with hospital CIOs, the company stated.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007, upon which Emergin will become part of the Patient Monitoring business unit within Philips' Healthcare sector.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
InTouch Teams Up with Intuitive
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based InTouch Health Technologies Inc., a remote presence healthcare solution company, is partnering with robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery company, Intuitive Surgical Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., in a deal that will see InTouch Health integrate its remote presence technology with Intuitive's da Vinci surgical system.
According to InTouch, the deal should allow for more efficient means of training surgeons.
Intuitive's da Vinci surgical system is a surgical robot that translates the surgeon's natural hand movements on instrument controls outside the patient's body into corresponding micro-movements of the instrument tips positioned inside the patient through small puncture incisions.
The Remote Presence System, produced by InTouch Health, enables a remotely based surgeon to project his or her presence into an operating room where a surgeon is performing a da Vinci surgical procedure. The connection is made over a high speed Internet connection, and the system provides audio and video, allowing the remote surgeon to view the surgery from multiple cameras while interacting with the surgeon and staff operating via da Vinci.
