Leading Healthcare Group Selects Varian Medical Systems to Supply Cancer Treatment Technology for Treatment Centers Across the Western United States | Varian

{ "pageType": "news-article", "title": "Leading Healthcare Group Selects Varian Medical Systems to Supply Cancer Treatment Technology for Treatment Centers Across the Western United States", "articleDate": "17 June 2009", "introText": "", "category": "Oncology" }

Leading Healthcare Group Selects Varian Medical Systems to Supply Cancer Treatment Technology for Treatment Centers Across the Western United States

Providence Health and Services (PH&S) Enters into Three-Year Agreement with Varian

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) and Providence Health and Services (PH&S) have signed a three-year agreement for Varian to provide PH&S treatment centers with advanced radiotherapy technology for treating cancer. The agreement covers Varian's state-of-the-art equipment and software.

"The Providence Health & Services organization encompasses over 33 participating treatment facilities across Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, and California," said Michael Oswald, Director of Capital Equipment Contracting at PH&S. "We elected not to renew our previous agreements with certain other cancer treatment technology suppliers, and selected Varian as our vendor for radiation therapy treatment technology going forward."

"Varian provides well engineered, high quality equipment that performs to very tight specifications," said Keri Moeller, manager of radiation oncology at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, a PH&S member site that installed Varian's Trilogy® machine for image-guided radiotherapy earlier this year. Moeller and her colleagues at Sacred Heart are members of the PH&S Oncology Services group, which played an instrumental role in the organization's decision to contract with Varian for treatment delivery technology purchases over the next five years. "With Trilogy, we can offer patients accurate image-guided treatments. Our Trilogy machine can quickly deliver high-dose stereotactic radiosurgery when appropriate, and also features respiratory gating to compensate for tumor motion during treatment. No other manufacturer could offer us a comparable package of capabilities. We also felt secure in our ability to rely on Varian's mature service network," Moeller added.

"Our priority is to provide our member hospitals and treatment centers with access to technology that delivers the most effective cancer treatments available," Oswald said. "Through this agreement with Varian, we are accomplishing that goal."

About Providence Health and Services
Providence Health and Services (PH&S) is a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with hospitals and related health care service and administrative operations in Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, and California. PH&S owns and operates 28 acute care hospitals, freestanding long term care facilities, home care services, and low income and assisted living facilities. It also operated the Providence Alliance, a contractual supply chain relationship with smaller hospitals not owned by Providence.

About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 5,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, China, and Europe and in its 79 offices and facilities around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/.

    FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Meryl Ginsberg, 650-424-6444
    meryl.ginsberg@varian.com

SOURCE: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

Web site: http://www.varian.com/