Royal Philips Electronics has agreed to pay $280 million in cash for healthcare IT provider Stentor, the latest sign of a push by global technology companies into the medical field.
Stentor makes medical equipment used by hospitals to digitize medical images such as X-rays, CT and MRI scans, so that they can be stored in electronic patient files and viewed whenever they are needed, such as in an ambulance to a surgery room. The technical name for the equipment Stentor makes is PACS, or picture archive and communication systems.
The acquisition of Stentor, of Brisbane, Calif., will significantly strengthen Philips’ position in healthcare IT, said Jouko Karvinen, president and CEO of Philips Medical Systems, in a statement Wednesday. Philips plans to incorporate the company into its medical systems division.
The deal has been approved by Stentor’s shareholders but still requires regulatory approval, Philips said.
Stentor expects sales this year to reach $50 million, and to grow by 50% in 2006, according to the statement.
Some other technology companies have been turning to the medical field in search of new markets.
Intel, for example, has been promoting the idea that doctors can take notes on Tablet PCs based on its chips. And IBM signed an eight-year, $402 million project earlier this year with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to consolidate its IT infrastructure and support new applications like electronic health records.
