HMSA Signs Multi-Year MR Purchasing Agreement with Novation

"Novation has always had a tradition of offering high qualitydiagnostic imaging equipment to the VHA and UHC members, and we arepleased that our products have been included in that," said DavidHartman, Corporate Accounts Manager, HMSA, "VHA and UHC members willcontinue to have access to Hitachi Open MR systems, which can provideclinical capabilities that rival those of many high-field closed typesystems."

AIRIS Elite features Hitachi's Scalable DualQuad(R) RF system,higher-order active shim technology and high-performance gradients.These advanced subsystems, integrated with Hitachi's award-winninggantry design and vertical field permanent magnet technology, providecapabilities and sequences like RF Fat-Saturation, RAPID(TM) ParallelImaging, Single Shot EPI-Diffusion-Weighted Imaging, advanced MRAtechniques and more.

A seamless blending of high-field performance and the patientcomfort of Open MR. Altaire employs a unique blend of innovativeHitachi features called VOSI(TM) technology, optimizing eachsub-system's performance in concert with the other sub-systems. Inthis way, Altaire is able to shatter old performance barriers whilestill delivering all of the benefits of Open MR.

In addition to Open MR, Hitachi also supplies high-resolutionultrasound systems to VHA and UHC members through Novation agreements.

Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. markets premium and highperformance magnetic resonance imaging systems of Hitachi MedicalCorporation, Tokyo, Japan. These include the AIRIS(R) Elite advancedmid-field open MR system, the Altaire(R) high-field performance MRsystem and the AIRIS(R) II MR system. The company has nearly 1,500Open Magnetic Resonance Imaging systems installed throughout theUnited States and over 3,100 Open MRI systems installed worldwide.HMSA first established a leadership position in the medical industrywith Open MRI systems and has expanded their modality offerings toinclude computed tomography, ultrasound, PET/CT, optical tomography,and 3D dental imaging.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is aleading global electronics company, with approximately 347,000employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidatedsales totaled 9,027.0 billion Yen ($84.4 billion). The company offersa wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors,including information systems, electronic devices, power andindustrial systems, medical imaging equipment, consumer products,materials and financial services.

Based in Irving, Texas, Novation was established in January 1998through a combination of the supply programs of VHA and UHC, twonational health care alliances. Novation serves the purchasing needsof more than 2,500 members and affiliates of VHA and UHC. Theseorganizations used Novation contracts to purchase more than $23billion in supplies in 2004.

For more information, go to www.novationco.com.
For more information please contact:
David Hartman
Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc.
1959 Summit Commerce Park
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087
800.800.3106 or 330.425.1313 Ext. 4535
330.425.1410 Fax
hartmand@hitachimed.com
www.hitachimed.com