Bayer and Alara Imaging Announce Collaboration

August 5, 2024

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ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As Radiology administrators from around the US gather for the annual AHRA (American Healthcare Radiology Administrators) conference, Bayer is announcing an exploratory collaboration with Alara Imaging, Inc.

"Radiation doses from computed tomography (CT) scans on patients are highly variable across patients and hospitals throughout the United States and other nations ^.1 Radiation doses that are beyond what are necessary to perform adequate CT scans represents a modifiable health risk, as doses can be reduced through monitoring and feedback to hospitals and institutions ^.2

To ensure proper patient safety, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a standardized method to monitor the performance of diagnostic CTs to discourage unnecessarily high radiation doses with the creation of new radiology patient safety electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). These eCQMs use Alara Imaging software to access primary data elements stored within radiology electronic health records and translate them into data elements for eCQM calculation and reporting.

As CMS Measure Steward, the Alara SOC II- and HIPAA-compliant software supports health systems to securely transfer existing data from the electronic health record systems (EHR), radiology information system (RIS), and picture archiving and communication systems (PACS systems) to enable necessary computations for CMS quality measure compliance.

"As leaders in radiation dose management software, Bayer is thrilled to enter into this collaboration with Alara Imaging, Inc", stated Rich Dewit, Global Head, Digital Solutions, Bayer. "Bayer is committed to helping Radimetrics customers by engaging with ALARA to support their institutions compliance with the new Hospital Quality Reporting eCQMs by leveraging the Alara gateway."

"Alara is proud to collaborate with Bayer to support health systems across the U.S. with these important patient safety measures," Nate Mazonson, CEO & Co-founder, Alara Imaging, Inc.

About Alara Imaging, Inc.

Alara was founded to usher in a new wave of medical imaging advancements that improve patient outcomes. Alara serves as measure steward and provides the secure software for use in new radiology measures within CMS quality payment programs. To learn more about Alara's mission, please visit Alara's website, www.alaragateway.com .

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, Bayer aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability, and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2022, the Group employed around 99,723 people and had sales of 50.7 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 6.2 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com .

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Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com . The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

¹ Smith-Bindman R, Wang Y, Chu P, et al. International variation in radiation dose for computed tomography examinations: prospective cohort study. BMJ (Clinical research ed). Jan 2019;364:k4931. doi:10.1136/bmj.k4931

² Smith-Bindman R, Chu P, Wang Y, et al. Comparison of the Effectiveness of Single-Component and Multicomponent Interventions for Reducing Radiation Doses in Patients Undergoing Computed Tomography: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine. Mar 30 2020; JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(5):666-675doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.0064

Source: Bayer