San Diego, CA (HIMSS Booth #5633) – February 13, 2006

At the Annual Conference and Exhibition HIMSS 2006 in San Diego, US, Agfa HealthCare announces the launch on the North-American market of Agfa iPlan internet-based enterprise scheduling solution. With Agfa iPlan any member of the hospital or clinic staff can schedule an appointment up to 50% faster.

Healthcare delivery today is becoming more and more complex and increasingly demanding in terms of efficiency and productivity. Agfa iPlan assures the highest resource efficiency at the lowest time-to-schedule, that is the time staff takes to initiate and confirm an appointment. To ensure maximum user-friendliness, Agfa iPlan is based on extensive customer usability studies and innovative software development technologies.

Initial user reactions to Agfa’s new Agfa iPlan solution has been very positive. In Bonheiden’s Imelda Hospital, Belgium, Agfa iPlan has been receiving comments from the hospital’s IT responsible, Eric D’hondt, soon after its introduction: "Because Agfa iPlan is so intuitive, hospital staff can easily schedule appointments with minimal training. This reduces investment time in training and optimizes workflow in our hospital."

Agfa iPlan’s simple and intuitive user interface is highly configurable by user as well as medical specialty. This enables Agfa iPlan's optimization for each clinical discipline allowing different workflows to be incorporated. A rules-based logic tool built within Agfa iPlan reduces scheduler errors and the number of clicks required to complete a task.

Commenting on the launch of Agfa iPlan, Tom De Caluwé, Global RIS Manager, Agfa HealthCare, said: "Agfa iPlan is the perfect complement to any existing healthcare IT or clinical solution. The way Agfa iPlan guides the user through the scheduling process is unique and represents a revolution in enterprise scheduling. We believe it will be an invaluable tool for acute and ambulatory users and referring physicians alike."


About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the worlds leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analog and digital systems for the graphics industry, the healthcare sector and specific industrial applications. Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is active in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,762 million euro in 2004.

Agfa’s HealthCare business group supplies hospitals and other healthcare centers with state-of-the-art systems for the capturing, processing and managing of diagnostic images and with IT solutions that integrate the imaging workflow into the overall hospital operations across departmental disciplines. In addition, Agfa is a leader in the fast growing market of IT systems that span the entire healthcare enterprise and through which healthcare facilities become more efficient and effective, with improved patient outcomes.
For more information on Agfa, visit www.agfa.com.

1US$ = 0.804281 Euro

Agfa, the Agfa rhombus are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Belgium or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Contacts:

Geertrui De Smet
Global PR Manager HealthCare
tel.: +32 (0) 3 444 73 06 
fax: +32 (0) 3 444 72 85 
e-mail: geertruidesmet@agfapress.com

Johan Jacobs
Corporate Press Relations Manager
tel.: +32 (0)3 444 80 15 
fax: +32 (0)3 444 74 85
e-mail: johan.jacobs@agfa.com