Esslingen District Clinics get uniform IT structure with ORBIS™ from Agfa HealthCare

Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, announces today that the first steps towards the comprehensive introduction of its ORBIS™ Clinical Information System (CIS) were successfully completed at the beginning of April at the Paracelsus hospital in Ruit and the district hospital in Plochingen. Only 15 months after the integration of the two hospitals with the Kirchheim-Nürtingen clinic to form the Esslingen district clinics, the implementation of uniform hospital software is further documentary proof of the growing together of the sites.


The Kirchheim-Nürtingen clinic has been using ORBIS since October 2001 and is a reference hospital for Agfa HealthCare in South Germany. With the introduction of the system in Ruit and Plochingen, a further 1,100 staff can now gain access to the leading clinical information system on the German market. Gerhard Bauer, Head of Department of the Esslingen district clinics, said: “We are pleased with the smooth introduction of ORBIS, which will allow the Esslingen district clinics to grow even closer together. The established experience of colleagues in Nürtingen and Kirchheim and our partner Agfa HealthCare has ensured high staff motivation from the project planning stage through to exemplary training with exercises in a test database. This has made the go-live process quick and successful.”

ORBIS is available as of now for healthcare, medical and administrative tasks at all Esslingen district clinic sites. The complete ORBIS solution currently comprises in-patient management (admission, transfer and release), accounting, service center management, basic medical documentation, laboratory documentation and OP documentation. All five sites are linked via a radio network. Modern information technology has made laptop visits and electronic patient files a real possibility for the district clinics.

Mark A. Hoffmann, Sales Manager at Agfa HealthCare Germany, said: “ORBIS is the Latin word for circle. Together with our long-term partners at the Esslingen district clinics, we can be very satisfied with the textbook ’all-round’ introduction of our clinical information system at all the clinic sites. It has really completed the circle, in the truest sense of the word.”