Merge Healthcare to Showcase Expanded Solutions and Education in Women’s Imaging at the 2010 National Conference on Breast Cancer

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE), a health IT solutions leader, today announced it will be showcasing it’s expanded suite of innovative solutions and support of comprehensive continuing education programs for the advancement of women’s imaging at the National Conference on Breast Cancer (NCBC) 2010. Additionally, Merge plans to introduce and collaborate with attendees on its Women’s Healthcare Initiative, which builds partnerships with clinicians to provide broader access to training in the analysis and interpretation of these important studies.

“Multi-Modality Imaging of Breast Cancer: New Techniques, Advanced Diagnosis and Staging”

“I am pleased that Merge Healthcare is expanding its dedication in women’s imaging,” says Dr. Michael Linver, X-Ray Associates of New Mexico, P.C., Albuquerque, New Mexico and Program Chair of NCBC. “As a Merge CADstream® user, I appreciate Merge’s focus on delivering the most advanced technology for improved quality, standardization and efficiency in women’s imaging. Additionally, with the Initiative’s support of continuing education, Merge is not only delivering state-of-the-art innovations, but the company is also providing access to comprehensive educational programs that can assist radiologists in the interpretation and reporting of these important studies.”

“Supporting comprehensive education programs is a priority of Merge Healthcare,” says Justin Dearborn, Merge CEO. “These courses, workshops and conferences teach students proper analysis, interpretation and management of studies by thought leaders in the industry.” Upcoming educational programs supported by Merge for women’s imaging include:

“Practical Breast MRI Interpretation Using CAD: Online Case Review” with Dr. David Gruen and sponsored by ICPME, April 29,
“Breast MRI and Guided Biopsy” with Dr. Constance Lehman, et. al., and sponsored by the American College of Radiology, May 13-14, and
“Multi-Modality Imaging of Breast Cancer: New Techniques, Advanced Diagnosis and Staging” with Dr. Bruce Porter and sponsored by First Hill Diagnostic Imaging, June 2-4.

Learn about these educational programs and more programs supported by Merge Healthcare by visiting http://www.merge.com/CAD/benefits/education.aspx.

Merge Healthcare’s expanded suite of women’s imaging solutions improves efficiency and standardization in the analysis, interpretation and management of studies. Merge will have the following solutions on display in booth #101 at NCBC, which runs April 9-11^th in Palm Desert, California:

- CADstream, the standard of care in MRI-CAD, is designed to dramatically improve workflow. The system automates the analysis, reporting and monitoring of studies, and promotes standardization of MRI studies with the incorporation of recognized standards. CADstream version 5.0, released in December, 2009, adds features that help scale to meet customer workflow needs, whether just beginning or expanding an MRI program.

- Merge Mammo™, a vendor-neutral digital mammography workstation that is offered as a stand-alone or integrated Fusion Workstation^™application capable of displaying multi-modality images (e.g. digital mammography, ultrasound, MR, CT) from a single workstation. Beyond its dedicated breast imaging elements, Merge Mammo accelerates productivity with a wide range of standard manipulation and navigation features, including lesion contouring and cross-correlation tools, enabling easier viewing and manipulation of images and producing highly efficient comparisons. An integration* of CADstream into Merge Mammo will also be on display.

- Using the new ACR/NMD Output File Module for Fusion RIS™, women’s health facilities can quickly and easily upload their data to the National Mammography Database, which compiles and standardizes a comprehensive collection of radiology data from sites throughout the United States. As a result, women’s health practices gain access to reliable, comparative information for benchmarking national and regional cancer detection rates, false positive rates, recall rates and positive predictive values, and can use that information to improve performance and the quality of care.

* Work In Progress: Merge Healthcare is not legally obligated to develop or continue to develop such Works in Progress that may include the features and functionality described herein.

Merge Healthcare develops solutions that automate healthcare data and diagnostic workflow to enable a better electronic record of the patient experience, and to enhance product development for health IT, device and pharmaceutical companies. Merge products, ranging from standards-based development toolkits to sophisticated clinical applications, have been used by healthcare providers, vendors and researchers worldwide for over 20 years. Additional information can be found at www.merge.com.

The matters discussed in this news release may include forward-looking statements, which could involve a number of risks and uncertainties. When used in this press release, the words “will”, “believes”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “expects” and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such factors or to publicly announce the results of any of the forward-looking statements.