By Bianca Flowers
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Siemens Healthineers on Monday announced an agreement to sell more than $140 million dollars of medical equipment to U.S. healthcare provider Atrium Health over the next 10 years in an effort to increase access to care in underserved communities.
The agreement with Atrium, which is focused in the U.S. Southeast, marks the 15th long-term partnership that the German company has entered with a U.S. customer.
"It is a method to equip Atrium step by step with the right fleet of technology," Siemens Healthineers Chief Executive Bernd Montag told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a radiology conference in Chicago.
"It's about educating surgeons and showing them new techniques, and rolling out the technologies across the Atrium system and look at how you can operate more efficiently."
The news comes after Siemens Healthineers told shareholders at its fiscal year-end meeting that it will restructure its diagnostic division to save around 300 million euros ($302 million) each year starting in 2025.
Montag confirmed that there will be layoffs as a result but declined to comment on how many employees will be impacted by job cuts.