CHICAGO, Sept. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ:MRGE), a leading provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to transform healthcare, today announced a collaboration with ifa Systems AG to deliver high quality, affordable eye care technology services to the Singapore National Eye Center (SNEC), which manages more than 300,000 outpatient visits and 26,000 day surgeries annually. This collaboration will improve ophthalmologists’ ability to review and digitize patient documentation leading to greater productivity and efficiency.

Current and new clients using ifa Systems’ EMR ophthalmology platform will have access to Merge PACS™ and Merge Eye Care PACS™. Integrating these tools within ifa Systems’ EMR will ensure SNEC has access to comprehensive eye care instruments and diagnostic devices enhancing overall patient care.

“The cooperation with a global player like Merge Healthcare is a great opportunity to offer turnkey solutions based on the latest health IT using open standards,” said Guido Niemann, chief executive officer of ifa Systems. “The ifa team is very optimistic and proud of the worldwide collaboration as Merge and ifa share the same vision of integrated data and image systems in order to improve healthcare and eye care services with user-friendly and efficient solutions.”

“Merge is excited to work with ifa Systems in order to offer ophthalmology providers at SNEC a more integrated and robust EMR solution,” said Justin Dearborn, chief executive officer of Merge Healthcare. “We look forward to our continued collaboration together as we streamline workflows and enable providers to focus on the patient first and foremost.”

“SNEC is delighted to hear that ifa Systems and Merge Healthcare have collaborated to present their software solutions as a total concept; we look forward to reaping the benefits of such a partnership,” said Charity Wai, Chief operating Officer, SNEC. “Additionally, having Mandarin Opto-Medic, Singapore – with years of experience in the ophthalmic field – as local partner for the region will further complement the new combined solution.”

About ifa Systems AG

The ifa group is the leading international provider for electronic medical record (EMR/EHR) and picture archive and communication systems (PACS) in ophthalmology. Every day more than 10,000 eye care professionals and their teams around the world use the famous software with the “red dot”. The EMR and PACS applications are available in 10 languages and are installed in more than 20 countries around the world. Every day ifa systems manage more than 200,000 patient cases and more than 80 million patient visits are stored in local and wide area ifa networks.

About Merge

Merge is a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare. Merge’s enterprise and cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides clinical trials software with end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and analytics solutions. With solutions that have been used by providers for more than 25 years, Merge is helping to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance the quality of healthcare worldwide. For more information, visit merge.com and follow us on Twitter @MergeHealthcare.

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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.

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