MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As a part of its ongoing strategic objective of expansion in China, Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE) will be exhibiting at the China International Medical Equipment Fair, which will be held at the Chengdu Century City New International Convention & Exhibition Center, October 28 - 31, 2009. Merge, a leading health IT provider, regained and began rebuilding its Chinese operations in January, 2009 to meet the growing market opportunity. According to industry statistics, China is spending about 1% of their GDP on healthcare, versus the United States’ 16%. Even one or two percent growth creates an opportunity in China that is one of, if not the largest, in the global healthcare market.

“We are pleased to be a technology supplier to the Chinese healthcare community,” says Justin Dearborn, Merge CEO. “In less than one year we have set up a full-service center in Shanghai, finished several major product releases and signed six new reseller customers. I’m proud of the Merge China team’s rapid progress and know they are all looking forward to this important show.”

CMEF has become the largest exhibition of medical equipment, and related products and services, in the Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition covers thousands of products within medical imaging as well as many other healthcare technologies. Over 10,000 visitors from 35 countries are registered to attend the show.

Visitors to the Merge Booth, located in Hall 3, Stand H3-N17, will see several technologies and solutions on display, including:

• eFilm Workstation®*, well-known by radiologists worldwide as an intuitive, economical diagnostic review application. Merge is anticipating SFDA approval soon to meet the demand for this popular solution.
• MergeCOM™ and Cedara™ Toolkits, used by most of the major modality companies for medical imaging software development. Specific applications include DICOM and HL7 toolkits, as well as specialty solutions such as Cedara Image Enhancement™ and image stitching.
• Cedara WebAccess™, a new zero-client web technology platform for enabling cross-enterprise exchange of radiology and imaging results from multiple systems, delivered in a single, patient centric, view.
• Cedara Imaging Solutions, such as I-Softview™ and clinical applications for orthopaedics and mammography. These applications can be customized and integrated into broader medical imaging solutions.

For more information on Merge’s participation in CMEF, please visit www.merge.com/oem or http://www.mergechina.com.cn/events/index.htm.

Merge Healthcare develops software solutions that automate healthcare data and diagnostic workflow to create a more comprehensive electronic record of the patient experience. Merge products, ranging from standards-based development toolkits to fully integrated clinical applications, have been used by healthcare providers worldwide for over 20 years. Additional information can be found at www.merge.com.

*These products are represented as works-in-progress. Merge Healthcare is not legally obligated to develop or continue to develop such works-in-progress that may include the features and functionality described herein.

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.