Milwaukee, WI, March 5, 2008 - Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE; TSX: MRG), a leading medical imaging software and services provider, announced today that its Merge Teleradiology division has introduced Merge TeleRead(TM), an application that greatly simplifies teleradiology workflow through automation. Merge TeleRead is a software package that integrates seamlessly with Merge's Fusion RIS/PACS(TM) and Fusion RIS/PACS MX(TM) solutions, and enables radiologists to place studies in a dedicated teleradiology worklist, from which they can be manually or automatically transmitted to an offshore reading center. Tight integration allows not just images to be sent, but also any prior reports, prior image studies, scanned documents and all relevant patient demographics - facilitating detailed interpretation by reading center radiologists.

"This is the key difference between Merge's teleradiology offerings and others on the market," said Kenneth Rardin, Merge Healthcare CEO. "Integrating the teleradiology application with our RIS/PACS solutions enables our U.S.- based customers to effortlessly link studies for which they want outsidetelereads with a wealth of extra data that can assist our offshore reading center radiologists in providing our Consult reReads(TM)."

Once the study is placed in the teleradiology worklist, all that the radiologist needs to perform is a single mouse-click to transmit the study to the reading center. Similarly, when automatic routing is enabled - during night hours for instance - the TeleRead software automatically links the study with prior reports and images and sends the study to the reading center. These one-click and no-click workflows can dramatically simplify teleradiology for busy imaging centers.
"We believe that Merge TeleRead and Consult PreReads can help centers realize greater efficiency and quality in their daily imaging workflow," Rardin added.

Consult PreReads(TM)

Upon the studies' arrival at Merge's Reading Center in India, skilled radiologists conduct Consult PreReads(TM), an intensive activity, involving prescreening, reviewing historical patient information, reviewing prior studies, selection of key images, measurements, annotations, and generation of a detailed report. "Centers are staffed by expert consultant radiologists with years of experience," said Dr. PersonNameMukul Mutatkar, Merge's India-based Medical Director and Chief Consultant Radiologist. "Each study we receive from the United States is reviewed independently by two radiologists before we transmit the detailed reading and marked key images that comprise the Consult PreRead

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