Rochester, New York-based Carestream Health has announced its agreement to sell its healthcare information systems (HCIS) business to Netherlands-based Royal Philips. The companies expect to close the sale in the second half of this year pending the receipt of the proper regulatory and governmental approvals. Each company will continue to operate separately until closing. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Carestream Sells Health IT Business to Philips

Carestream is a global provider of medical imaging systems and IT solutions, x-ray imaging systems, and precision contract coating services. Carestream’s HCIS business provides imaging IT solutions to hospitals, specialty medical units, radiology service providers, and imaging centers. Following the sale, Carestream will retain its medical imaging, dental and industrial films, non-destructive testing, and precision coating businesses.
Helen Titus, Carestream’s Business Segment Manager, Cone Beam CT, told OTW, “The joining of HCIS with Philips will create an enhanced enterprise imaging portfolio that will be very attractive to healthcare providers of all sizes, while Carestream’s continuing medical digital business will benefit from a sharper focus on customer satisfaction and new product development.”
David C. Westgate, chairman, president and CEO of Carestream, said, “Our focus will be on delivering innovation that is life changing—for patients, customers, channel partners, communities and other stakeholders—and we will grow the company for long-term success.”
Following the acquisition, Philips’ healthcare IT business will expand to include VNA [vendor neutral archive], diagnostic and enterprise viewers, multimedia reporting, workflow orchestrator, and clinical, operational, and business analytics tools.
Robert Cascella, chief business leader Precision Diagnosis at Royal Philips, said, “This acquisition will enhance our ability to provide flexible solutions to hospitals and health systems. The combination of our successful innovations in imaging system platforms, workflow optimization and artificial intelligence-enabled informatics, combined with Carestream’s cloud-based enterprise imaging informatics platform and complementary geographic footprint will provide a solid foundation to deliver on the promise of precision diagnosis.”

Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
Join the conversation
Orthopedic professionals are discussing this. Sign in and upgrade to read every comment and add your voice.