Blended Fusion PACS MX 3.0 and Merge Mammo 7.10 enables St. Francis to enhance quality and efficiency by eliminating separate workstations and worklists across its facilities

Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE)(TSX: MRG), a leading medical imaging solutions provider, today announced that Saint Francis Health System, a large multi-site, multi-specialty hospital operating throughout Tulsa, Oklahoma, has signed a contract to upgrade from its existing PACS to the Merge Fusion PACS MX 3.0, a recently released solution with bundled multimodality and vendor neutral workstation capabilities of Merge Mammo 7.10. St. Francis is among the first in the US to adopt a solution that provides a single workstation environment with single worklist capability for most general diagnostic imaging modalities including digital x-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography as well as mammography images.

"In nearly all organizations today, radiologists are required to read from separate PACS and mammography workstations, sometimes using multiple mammo workstations depending upon the vendor’s acquisition device," said Nancy Koenig, president of Merge Healthcare. "By integrating PACS and mammography capabilities, Merge brings a new option to imaging facilities to improve clinical quality and operational efficiency. Radiologists no longer spend time toggling between, searching through, and comparing images across different software solutions on different computer screens. In providing access via a single worklist at one workstation, we eliminate multiple processes, improve radiologists’ ability to read and compare images, and speed report turnaround time."

Fusion PACS MX provides powerful and efficient workflow for imaging organizations, allowing studies to be assigned to radiologists regardless of geographic location and obviating the need for paper records. Merge Mammo is a multi-modality, vendor neutral digital mammography workstation that displays and reads images from different acquisition devices, including digital mammography, ultrasound, MR and CT. Workflow is significantly streamlined by bundling both radiology and mammography onto the same computer, including tracking, reporting, electronic document management, and speech recognition software.

With 7,000 employees, St. Francis Health System includes five hospitals and multiple clinics and specialty programs across the greater Tulsa area. The system’s 918-bed St.