Sectra Group: The European 'Department of Defense' in Healthcare IT Expands Globally with Patient-Centric Imaging Solutions

At the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, Sectra Group (CPH:SECT-B) presented solutions for more efficient, patient-centered care workflows.

Attendees at RSNA can experience Sectra Group’s product portfolio at its booth. At the core of this portfolio are Sectra VNA and its PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), which has been recognized as Best in KLAS. This scalable and comprehensive solution streamlines the entire workflow for radiology, pathology, and cardiology. It seamlessly integrates with various medical imaging IT solutions to provide complete patient records anytime, anywhere. Radiologists can perform all daily tasks through a single diagnostic application.

Since the widespread adoption of medical imaging equipment in healthcare institutions in the last century, physicians’ daily workflows have been streamlined. However, clinical diagnosis and treatment have become increasingly reliant on medical imaging examinations, and traditional methods of managing medical images can no longer meet the demands of handling the vast volumes of imaging data in modern hospitals. With the advent of digital image transmission and electronic films, numerous hospitals have embarked on initiatives to digitize their operations. As imaging technologies have matured in the realms of digitalization and internet connectivity, filmless radiology departments and digital hospitals have become a reality.

PACS was introduced in 1983 to enable unified storage and management of information data from diverse medical imaging modalities. Since then, IT management of medical imaging has become a key focus for hospitals worldwide. In parallel, a number of outstanding companies have emerged in this field; some have remained relatively obscure, while others have achieved steady growth and ultimately risen to become industry giants.

Sectra Group is a typical example of a company that has grown into an industry giant. According to the company’s quarterly report for the third quarter of the 2018/2019 fiscal year, its orders increased by 15.6% year-on-year, reaching SEK 390 million (approximately USD 42 million); net sales grew by 13.8%, amounting to SEK 341.6 million (approximately USD 36 million). For the 2017/2018 fiscal year, Sectra Group’s total sales reached SEK 1.267 billion (approximately USD 140 million).

In 1978, a team of researchers at the Institute of Technology, Linköping University, was tasked with developing an information security solution for banks. To accomplish this mission, Professor Ingemar Ingemarsson, together with his graduate students Viiveke Fåk, Rolf Blom, and Robert Forchheimer, founded Sectra Group (SECure TRAnsmission), with data security becoming the company’s first niche area.

Currently, Sectra Group’s secure communication products are used by policymakers, institutions, and defense officials in 17 European countries, making the company akin to a “Ministry of Defense” in the field of European medical data security.

On the other hand, Linköping University remains a valuable source of knowledge for Sectra Group, as many of the company’s most outstanding employees have been recruited from the Institute of Technology.

A few years later, Jan-Olof Brüer became a graduate student in information theory under the supervision of Professor Ingemar Ingemarsson. When one of the founders of Sectra Group left the company, Jan-Olof was recruited as a co-owner, bringing new ideas on how to transform Sectra Group into a “real” company. Jan-Olof also expressed his willingness to assume the role of President.

“We all burst out laughing at the time, dismissing it as merely Jan-Olof’s whimsical fancy. But today, I must say that his perspective and vision have been surpassed,” said Professor Ingemar Ingemarsson.

Under the leadership of Jan-Olof, Sectra Group began producing data security and image coding products in 1987, while also focusing on the development and sales of system solutions.

On the other hand, the arrival of Linkoping University freshmen has also injected fresh blood into Sectra Group.

Guided by a strong interest in medical technology and a visionary perspective on digital radiology images, Torbjörn Kronander, the current President and CEO of Sectra Group, arrived at the Linköping Institute of Technology as a graduate student in the 1980s. He was soon recruited into Sectra Group by Professor Ingemar Ingemarsson, who recognized his potential. After 1989, the company’s business formally expanded into the field of digital image management systems for radiology departments, giving rise to Imaging IT Solutions, which has since grown into the company’s largest business unit. Through this division, Sectra Group pioneered its way to a leading position in a niche market worldwide.

In 1993, Sweden’s first filmless radiology department using the Sectra system was established, with Torbjörn Kronander demonstrating how to transmit images from radiology clinics to nearby hospitals via telephone networks. In 1995, Sectra Group founded its first subsidiary outside Sweden in Norway. Furthermore, Sectra Group went public on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen Stock Exchange in 1999, an listing that provided strategic acquisitions and financing support for the company’s continued expansion. Following the establishment of entities in France and Finland in 2015 and in Canada in 2017, Sectra Group now has direct sales operations in 19 countries/regions.

Currently, more than 1,800 hospitals worldwide rely on Sectra’s medical products to conduct 75 million radiology examinations annually, enabling the company to establish partnerships in approximately 30 countries across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and Japan. Furthermore, Sectra holds a leading market position in the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, while its customer base in the United States continues to grow.

However, prior to this, Sectra Group had been the market leader in encryption equipment for the Swedish Armed Forces since the 1990s. In 1999, the company provided telephones to the Swedish Armed Forces, making it the first organization in the world to use encrypted mobile communications.

Sectra Group’s Imaging IT division has also evolved with the times. Since its establishment in the 1990s, the division has formally entered the healthcare sector, transitioning its product portfolio from a single offering to a diversified range that gradually covers multiple subfields of medical imaging, including: breast imaging, cardiology imaging, digital pathology, enterprise management platform development, orthopedics, and radiology imaging.

Among these, the enterprise management platform development business overlaps with the department’s other medical imaging operations. Building on this foundation, Sectra Group has developed IT systems for managing, archiving, presenting, and disseminating all types of medical images and patient information.

However, the most acclaimed offering of Sectra Group’s Imaging IT division is its PACS-based medical imaging management system.

On April 11, 2019, Sectra Group entered into a partnership with Trillium Health Partners, Canada’s largest community hospital system and a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. The company will install its PACS-based medical imaging system from its Imaging IT division at the hospitals. This system will provide radiologists across the three hospitals with unified medical images and comprehensive patient profiles, thereby enabling more effective care.

Sectra Group will also provide Trillium Health Partners with a shared solution across radiology (including breast imaging), integrated with its enterprise electronic medical record (EMR) system. This will enable access to and sharing of images and information throughout the entire clinical pathway, providing clinicians with complete patient records. The system will support approximately 600,000 examinations annually across Trillium Health Partners’ three hospitals in Mississauga and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Meanwhile, the PACS system purchased by Trillium Health Partners for its Imaging IT Department is a key component of Sectra Group’s enterprise imaging solution, which provides integrated image management while ensuring efficiency in clinical workflows. The enterprise imaging solution is modular and supports the most critical departments—Radiology, Pathology, Cardiology, and Orthopedics.

For six consecutive years, Sectra Group has won the industry’s most prestigious award for its outstanding customer satisfaction in this product category. The company’s clients include some of the world’s largest public and private healthcare providers. Leveraging the strong influence of these clients, Sectra Group has sought to extend its imaging IT systems beyond radiology into other areas, and the company has now established itself as the leading provider of enterprise imaging IT solutions in the industry.

Leveraging its globally deployed imaging IT systems and its established market presence worldwide, Sectra Group expanded its business in North America this April while also penetrating markets in Europe and Oceania.

On April 9, 2019, Sectra Group signed a 13-year contract with NSW Health in New South Wales, Australia, to provide enterprise imaging solutions for the largest public health system in Australia. Sectra Group’s system will provide a common platform for 11 health organizations in New South Wales, enabling them to seamlessly share images and information across different departments and locations, thereby improving work efficiency.

On April 15, 2019, Sectra entered into a partnership with a healthcare region in Denmark dedicated to comprehensive digital pathology. Leveraging Sectra’s IT solutions for processing digital pathology images, the four major hospitals of the Region of Southern Denmark, which are geographically dispersed, have been able to optimize services and provide equitable care to all patients.

On April 17, 2019, Sectra Group signed a ten-year contract with Deventer Hospital, a general hospital located in the Netherlands. Under this partnership, Deventer Hospital will implement Sectra Group’s PACS-based medical imaging management system to handle radiological images. According to Shira de Bie, a radiologist at Deventer Hospital, this solution will help radiologists improve the efficiency of image interpretation and is expected to enhance patient treatment outcomes.

Regarding Sectra Group’s approach of “building a broad network of partnerships,” President and CEO Torbjörn Kronander stated, “For a company like Sectra Group, which competes with some of the world’s largest corporations, securing high-quality, long-term customers is extremely important. It is worth noting that our strong customer relationships have earned us widespread acclaim in the medical imaging field, with our healthcare IT systems achieving the highest global customer satisfaction ratings for the fourth consecutive year.”

A review of the company’s history reveals that Sectra Group has long followed a similar tradition, driving business growth through acquisitions rather than partnerships: in 2002, Sectra Group acquired the software company Pronosco A/S; in 2004, it acquired Philips Digital Mammography Sweden, a manufacturer of mammography systems under Philips; in 2012 and July 2015, it acquired the IT companies Burnbank Systems and it-mark, respectively; in September 2015, it acquired EXP Analytics; and in 2015, it also acquired RxEye, an IT healthcare provider.

Overall, Sectra Group has primarily acquired technology-driven companies, underscoring its strong commitment to technological research and development. According to its financial report for the 2017/2018 fiscal year, Sectra Group’s R&D expenditure accounted for 15.3% of its revenue, marking it as an industry giant willing to invest heavily in innovation.

On the other hand, since most of the acquired companies had fewer than 50 employees, Sectra Group’s M&A activities did not attract significant industry attention. Its expansion followed a steady and prudent path, yet it has emerged as an industry leader thanks to its profound accumulation of expertise and experience.

This aligns with the words of President and CEO Torbjörn Kronander: “Sectra has never experienced explosive growth. We have deliberately chosen a stable, long-term development approach rather than a rapid, high-risk expansion path; we do not need to grow too quickly. We will continue our efforts to achieve annual growth of 5%–15%.”