A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Health Systems Solutions (HSS; New York) and Emageon (Birmingham, Alabama) reported a deal to extend the closing date for their pending merger to Feb. 11, 2009.

"We are pleased that, with the cooperation of Emageon, we were able to come up with a timetable for the completion of the merger and we are confident that the combined enterprise will offer great opportunities for our shareholders, employees, and customers," said Stan Vashovsky, HSS' CEO/chairman.

He added that the extension "will ... allow us additional time to complete our integration plan for our technologies. As a result, we will be in a better position to immediately serve the market upon closing."

"Emageon is pleased that HSS and Stanford International Bank Ltd. have shown a commitment to complete our transaction and we look forward to completing the merger promptly for the benefit of our investors and maximizing the HSS/Emageon business opportunities for our customers and employees," said Chuck Jett, CEO of Emageon.

Each of the parties will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission a Current Report on Form 8–K describing the amendments which were made to the transaction documents.

HSS is a technology and services company and Emageon provides information technology systems for hospitals, healthcare networks and imaging facilities.