SAN DIEGO – Belgium-based Agfa, best known for its imaging products, is entering the North American market for enterprise electronic health records.

At the HIMSS 2006 Annual Conference and Exhibit, Agfa unveiled a prototype of ORBIS, an EHR solution already commercialized at more than 600 hospitals in Europe, with most in Germany and Austria. Company officials claim that ORBIS is currently being used by more than 400,000 healthcare providers to date, with 70 modules in active use.

But while the European version is up and running, Agfa predicts a two-year adaption period to get ORBIS prepped for use in North America.“We’ve begun a detailed gap analysis to adapt ORBIS to U.S. needs and demands,” said Koen van Damme, a product specialist at Agfa. “By 2007, we will have pilots in place.”

“North America has its own specifics,” added Marcel Swennenhuis, a global business manager with Agfa’s RIS/PACS division. “What’s successful in Europe may require changes for the Americas.”

According to company marketing materials, the ORBIS modules available include registration, scheduling, order management, results reporting and clinical documentation. The ORBIS suite of solutions includes ancillary clinical disciplines such as radiology, pharmacy, laboratory, therapy services, nursing management and critical care. Specialized solutions within ORBIS address surgery suite management, critical care unit management, SNF (skilled nursing facility), home health, workflow and logistics.

ORBIS was originally developed by Germany-based GWI, which was acquired by Agfa HealthCare in January 2005.