PITTSBURGH, June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Marking its first medical services agreement in Asia, UPMC announced today that it will provide remote, second-opinion pathology consultations to KingMed Diagnostics, the largest independent medical diagnostic laboratory in China.

Using equipment that scans glass pathology slides and stores and transmits the images electronically, KingMed will have the ability to seek second opinions on patient diagnoses from UPMC's pathologists through a secure, Web-based telepathology portal. The service is expected to start by late summer.

"This three-year agreement will provide patients served by KingMed with rapid access to UPMC's world-renowned pathologists, thereby helping to ensure the most accurate diagnoses of complex diseases," said George K. Michalopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., UPMC pathologist and professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The department is the largest academic clinical organization of its kind, with 175 faculty members.

"KingMed is committed to offering the most comprehensive, highest-quality laboratory services in China," said Yaoming Liang, founder and CEO of KingMed Diagnostics. "This agreement with UPMC demonstrates that commitment and provides our patients with access to another source of pathology expertise that is not widely available in China."

Travis Tu, head of UPMC's new representative's office in Shanghai, noted that the KingMed deal is just the first of what UPMC hopes will be many agreements to provide an array of medical services throughout Asia. "UPMC's reputation for clinical excellence is attracting partners like KingMed that are committed to improving health care in Asia. At the same time, by leveraging our clinical successes in western Pennsylvania, UPMC is able to generate revenue that supports jobs and world-class health care and research at home."

UPMC's collaboration with KingMed also is expected to include training for pathologists from China in UPMC's Pittsburgh facilities and joint academic meetings as part of ongoing medical education in China.

In the future, KingMed may replace its telepathology platform with the digital pathology solutions being created by Omnyx, a joint venture between UPMC and GE Healthcare. Formed in 2008, Omnyx is digitizing slides and the corresponding workflow to improve collaboration, communication and efficiency. Omnyx is the first company ever formed by GE with an academic medical center.

About UPMC

UPMC is a $9 billion global health enterprise with more than 50,000 employees headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., and is transforming health care by integrating more than 20 hospitals, 400 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, a health insurance services division, and international and commercial services. Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC is redefining health care by using innovative science, technology, and medicine to invent new models of accountable, cost-efficient, and patient-centered care. For more information on how UPMC is taking medicine from where it is to where it needs to be, go to http://www.UPMC.com.

About KingMed Diagnostics

KingMed Diagnostics operates the largest independent clinical laboratory network in China with 17 central laboratories serving more than 6,000 hospitals and clinics in 26 out of 33 provincial level regions in China. Headquartered in Guangzhou, KingMed is accredited by the College of American Pathologists and International Organization of Standardization under its ISO15189 standard and provides medical diagnostic testing services to hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions across China. KingMed is a market leader in the provision of medical diagnostic testing services and is committed to offering the most comprehensive, highest-quality laboratory services available in China.

http://www.upmc.com/mediarelations

SOURCE?UPMC