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Nearly 200 Former Customers of Allscripts MyWay™ Are Currently Live on Aprima EHR and PM

Providers cite better training and support, easier billing and faster payments among the benefits of switching to Aprima.

Dallas, TX (March 22, 2013) – Aprima Medical Software announced today that nearly 200 former customers of Allscripts MyWay™ have gone live with Aprima in the six months since Allscripts announced it would not develop or update the Allscripts MyWay™ product to be in compliance with government incentives and requirements such as Meaningful Use and ICD-10. After an intentionally cautious start to the roll out to ensure success, providers have recently been going live on Aprima at a rate of 20 per week – a number that Aprima expects will grow significantly as existing contracts get implemented and word continues to get out about the benefits of upgrading to Aprima.

For Dr. Lauranne Harris, the financial benefits were almost instantly apparent. For months before upgrading to Aprima, her practice had struggled with the Allscripts MyWay™ billing module. The situation was immediately resolved after upgrading to Aprima. “The day after the practice went live a professional trainer arrived to train us on Aprima. We got $100K in billing out the door that day and within a week, we had received $25,000 in payments,” Dr. Harris recalled.
J. Woodson Dermatology & Associates reaped benefits that were nothing less than the driving reason to go paperless. Thanks to Aprima EHR’s “one click” insurance eligibility checking, the practice no longer has to assign a full-time employee to this previously tedious task. “There was nothing comparable to that in Allscripts MyWay™,” practice administrator Lori Haynie said.

J. Woodson Dermatology & Associates is currently scanning all of its images and charts within the Aprima EHR, another functionality that, according to Haynie, Allscripts neglected to train the practice how to use. But Haynie noted that these are the type of features that benefit practices and patients alike. “With Aprima, the practice sees the labor savings, but our patients ‘see’ the upgrade, too. For example, they no longer have to wait on the phone for lab results; the results are right there in Aprima. We’re getting to a point where soon they won’t even have to wait to fill out forms. They can do that in advance in Aprima,” she said.

Because the Allscripts MyWay™ product was originally based on the source code that Allscripts licensed from Aprima in 2008, customers have also benefited from a quick upgrade. Typically this upgrade is just a couple of days – often over a weekend – minimizing any disruption to their practice. The upgrade process includes verifying their data in Aprima before going live.

Customers have reacted very positively to the Aprima upgrade process. Almost universally they have said they are very relieved that they don’t have to go through a potentially arduous and time-consuming migration to a completely different system, where they might not retain all of their data and could be required to reduce patient load for days or weeks.

“Our traction with Allscripts MyWay™ upgrade orders continues to be very strong; in fact, we believe we will end up with between 1,200 and 1,500 providers – as much as 45% of providers that were actually installed on the Allscripts MyWay™ system, depending on which reports in the marketplace you believe to be accurate,” stated Michael Nissenbaum, Aprima president and CEO. “Virtually all of our newly upgraded practices have commented favorably on Aprima’s support team, or their reseller’s, and are very appreciative of our fast and personalized responses to their inquiries. We deeply appreciate the confidence that these new customers have in us, and promise we’ll never stop working to keep it.”

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March 29, 2013 I Written By John

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: EMR

Tags:Allscripts Allscripts MyWay™ Aprima Aprima EHR Aprima Medical Software Dr. Lauranne Harris ICD-10 J. Woodson Dermatology & Associates Lori Haynie Meaningful Use Michael Nissenbaum

CCHIT UNVEILS NEW HIE INTEROPERABILITY TESTING AT HIMSS13

Will Introduce Programs and Demonstrate Tools to Test Connectivity

CHICAGO – March 4, 2013 – Today, the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology is announcing the opening of the pilot phase of a new health information exchange compliance testing program at the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans; it also will reveal the program seals designed to help healthcare providers identify health information exchange (HIE) certified technology, and demonstrate its automated testing tool for vendors.

At completion, the HIE compliance testing and certification program components include the following:

1) HIE Certified Community™, for electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT systems, that will enable state-wide patient data inquiry allowing clinicians to query an HIE for information on specific patients

2) HIE Certified Direct™ that provides a simple way for providers to send secure health information directly to trusted recipients, including patients, over the Internet

3) HIE Certified Network™ for HIE-to-HIE connectivity and for connection to the eHealth Exchange

Certification will be specific to each technology and its version, and include testing of commercially available products, healthcare provider participants and health information exchanges.

“For the first time providers and purchasers of EHRs and HIE will have a simple way of assuring their system has all the capabilities required for plug and play interoperability,” said Dave Whitlinger, Executive Director of the New York eHealth Collaborative. “In New York, vendors will be required to pass the compliance testing program in order to connect to the SHIN-NY (the Statewide Health Information of New York).”

The planned pilot testing – for HIE Certified Network – is the first offering of a collaboration of states, public agencies, federally funded HIEs and HIT companies covering more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. Healtheway, the public-private partnership of the eHealth Exchange, and the EHR/HIE Interoperability Workgroup, a consortium of states and vendors, established the program to test and certify EHRs and other health IT to enable reliable transfer of data within and across organizational and state boundaries. CCHIT was selected as the compliance testing body by the partnership. The pilot will begin soon after the HIMSS meeting, and the launch of the certification program is planned for late in the spring.

“We’re creating a robust, highly automated testing program using an open source version of the AEGIS Developers Integration Lab (DIL) tool that relies on a set of specifications created by the partnership. Our aim is to enable true plug and play connectivity to simplify HIT development and reduce the cost of interface development,” said Alisa Ray, Executive Director and CEO, CCHIT. “This will help health IT developers get their technology to market quickly and prepare provider and HIE participants share information more efficiently.”

EHR developers and others can view a demonstration of CCHIT’s testing software at the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase (Kiosk 17-7, La Nouvelle Ballroom–Level 2).

“The certification program also will support a recently announced collaboration between Healtheway and the Care Connectivity Consortium (CCC), combining Healtheway’s robust network services expertise with the advanced patient-centered care technology and commitment to health IT innovation of CCC,” said Mariann Yeager, Healtheway’s Executive Director. “The collaboration will support IT interoperability among more than 40 health provider organizations across the nation, including founders Geisinger Health System (PA), Group Health Cooperative (WA), Intermountain Healthcare (UT), Kaiser Permanente (CA), and Mayo Clinic (MN).”

Additional HIMSS13 Demonstrations

CCHIT experts also will be on hand during the HIMSS meeting at The Meaningful Use Experience, Booth 149 in the Exhibit Hall. The Meaningful Use Experience is a special demonstration area that puts visitors in the middle of certified EHR solutions including complete EHR and EHR modules. Visitors to this interactive event will be able to connect with vendors, hear presentations and see demonstrations side-by-side.

About CCHIT

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) is an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. The Commission has been certifying electronic health record technology since 2006 and is authorized by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a certification body (ONC-ACB). CCHIT is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a certification body for the ONC HIT Certification Program for electronic health record (EHR) technology and accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as an Accredited Testing Laboratory (ATL) to test EHRs. More information on CCHIT and its programs is available athttp://cchit.org and http://source.cchit.org.

“CCHIT®” and “CCHIT Certified®” are registered trademarks of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology.

About EHR/HIE Interoperability Workgroup

The EHR | HIE Interoperability Workgroup is a New York eHealth Collaborative-led coalition of 19 States (representing over 50% of the U.S. population), 20 electronic health record (EHR) vendors, and 23 health information exchange (HIE vendors). The workgroup was launched in February 2011 to leverage existing standards and develop consistent implementation guides for interoperability between HIE software platforms, and the applications that interface with them. For more information about the Workgroup, visit www.interopwg.org.

About Healtheway
Healtheway is a non-profit organization chartered to operationally support the eHealth Exchange, a rapidly growing community of exchange partners, who share information under a common trust framework and a common set of rules. Currently, 38 participants include four federal agencies, six states, eight beacon communities and more than a dozen Health Information Organizations (HIOs) and health systems, which represent hundreds of hospitals, thousands of providers and millions of patients. Healtheway leads in cross-industry collaboration to develop implementation strategies that enable secure, interoperable nationwide exchange of health information. For more information about Healtheway and the eHealth Exchange: www.healthewayinc.org.

About AEGIS

AEGIS.net, Inc. is a CMMI® for Development (v1.3) Maturity Level 3, CMMI® for Services (v1.3) + Service System Development (SSD) Maturity Level 3 rated, ISO 9001:2008 certified small business and premier provider of information technology consulting services to federal civilian, defense and

commercial sector clients. AEGIS’s services, delivered by practitioners averaging more than 15 years of experience, include Project Management, Software Functional and Performance Testing, Application Design/Development, Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V), and Organizational Performance/Process Improvement. Our domains of expertise include health IT and interoperability, regulatory compliance, finance, human resources, and logistics. AEGIS offers the patent-pending Developers Integration Lab (DIL) testing solution for health information exchange gateway, interoperability, and compatibility testing.

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March 4, 2013 I Written By John

Filed Under: EMR

METRO UNVEILS ACCESSPOINT MOBILE COMPUTING SYSTEM AT HIMSS13

First release of new Metro Access platform offers unmatched user experience, industry-leading configurability and advanced medication management

NEW ORLEANS, La. (March 4, 2013) – Metro, a world leader in providing technology, storage and transport solutions for healthcare facilities, today introduced its Metro AccessPoint™ mobile computing system at the HIMSS13 Annual Conference and Exhibition. This all-new next generation mobile computing solution features advanced ergonomic design, integrated medication tracking and support, and industry-leading configurability and integration to ensure long-term support for evolving technology demands.

Building on the company’s broad, industry-leading line-up of mobile workstations, Metro AccessPoint is the first product of the Metro Access™ platform, an integrated hardware and software system that delivers unified information, medication and supply access across all leading automated dispensing cabinets.

“Metro AccessPoint offers the advanced technology, flexible integration options and fast fleet deployment that facilities are demanding to manage the rapid changes in healthcare IT and to meet the evolving meaningful use mandates,” said Rob Sobie, vice president of healthcare marketing at Metro. “As part of the Metro Access platform, our newest mobile computing workstation gives facilities a powerful tool for improving efficiency and reducing cost while progressing through the HIMSS EMR adoption model.”

The Metro AccessPoint system will be featured at the Metro exhibit (booth 6312) at HIMSS13, along with Metro Access platform. The Metro AccessPoint Rx, ideal for supporting closed-loop medication management required at Stage 5 of the HIMSS EMR adoption model, will also be featured in at the Intelligent Hospital™ Pavilion at HIMSS13.

Offering an array of new and improved ergonomic features and an unmatched user experience, Metro AccessPoint is designed from the ground up for caregiver comfort and convenience and IT flexibility. The fully adjustable display offers a comfortable viewing position for all users – even those using bifocals, while flexible keypad controller options provides easy access to battery level, battery charging, LED task lighting and electronic lift controls. Ergonomic push handles enhance maneuverability and the workstation offers multiple mounting points to accommodate a wide range of accessories.

Metro’s new design also supports advanced medication management. Through the Metro Access platform, the expanded capacity workstation integrates medication tracking and transport while communicating seamlessly with automated dispensing cabinets from Metro and other leading vendors. Sharing data with the automated dispensing cabinets eliminates the need for duplicate data entry, which saves time and reduces the potential for errors. As a result, clinicians can stock their workstations quickly and spend more time with patients.

The system’s scalable, modular design ensures easy service and the innovative universal tech tray expands to adapt to future technology upgrades. Metro’s Wake-on-LAN/Wake-on-Power integration allows caregivers to power the computer on and off without IT involvement.

Advanced, integrated and upgradable power system includes fan-cooled and fanless charging options along with a variety of chemistries to fit area specific needs and diverse budget needs. Metro’s next-generation LiFePO₄ and Li-Nano provide extended runtimes while swappable power solutions from Anton/Bauer provide continuous 24/7 runtime.

For more information on the Metro AccessPoint and Metro’s diverse breadth of healthcare solutions, visit www.metro.com.

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I Written By John

Filed Under: EMR

Tags:EMR Healthcare Healthcare IT HIMSS EMR HIMSS13 Li-Nano LiFePO4 Meaningful Use Metro Metro AccessPoint Metro AccessPoint Rx Metro AccessPoint™ mobile computing system Metro Access™ platform mobile computing workstation Rob Sobie

HIMSS13: athenahealth Issues HIT Industry ‘Code of Conduct’

Code Lays Out Five Basic Principles to Move Industry Forward

WATERTOWN, MA, and NEW ORLEANS, LA — March 4, 2013— athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination services to medical groups and health systems, today proposed a Health Information Technology (HIT) ‘Code of Conduct’ that calls upon the health information industry, particularly electronic health record (EHR) vendors, to abide by five principles related to data portability, patient safety, provider freedom of choice, and Meaningful Use.

The HIT Code of Conduct responds to recent statements by National Coordinator for Health IT, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, who has challenged the industry (HIT vendors) to “step up” and agree to a Code of Conduct that sets forth principles to protect patients, guard against fraud, and empower HIT to finally realize its potential to revolutionize health care. Motivated by the challenge, athenahealth has outlined a framework that its peer vendors can sign on to, and other industry stakeholders can sign up in support of, and today launched an online portal to gather online “signatures.” The five principles HIT vendors are being challenged to adhere to are:

Empower Data Portability and Provider Choice
Build a True Nationwide Information Backbone
Protect Patients
Prevent Fraud
Drive Meaningful Use

“The HIT Code of Conduct is a call to the industry to abide by a uniform set of high standards that providers should expect and demand as they invest in technology and services as a means to improve care delivery,” said Jonathan Bush, CEO and Chairman of athenahealth. “These are things we’ve committed to do for our clients—things that we believe our industry must do if HIT is going to join the 21st century and finally realize its potential to transform healthcare.”

“These are simple propositions that we think can have a significant impact—if we get broad buy-in from our peer companies and the providers we all serve,” said Dan Haley, VP of Government Affairs, athenahealth.

Added Haley, “The principles in the Code squarely address some of the central policy issues facing the HIT industry, providing not only a push to move the industry forward, but also a strong signal to our providers and to government that our industry understands its responsibility to proactively address those issues.”

HIT vendors, industry stakeholders, and policymakers interested in reviewing the full Code of Conduct are encouraged to visit it here: http://www.athenahealth.com/codeofconduct, where vendors can sign on to the Code in full, or just to the provisions that apply to their businesses, and other stakeholders can sign on to publicly show their support.

About athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of cloud-based Best in KLAS electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination services to medical groups and health systems. athenahealth’s mission is to be the most trusted service to medical care givers, helping them do well by doing the right thing. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call 888-652-8200.

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I Written By John

Filed Under: Cloud Computing

Tags:Athenahealth Dan Haley Dr. Farzad Mostashari EHR Electronic Health Record Health Information Technology Health Information Technology Code of Conduct Health IT HIT Inc Jonathan Bush Meaningful Use NASDAQ: ATHN

et Real Health Proud to Partner with Caradigm on New Cloud-based Platform and Applications

Rockville, Maryland — Get Real Health is proud to announce a formalized and updated partnership with Caradigm, the joint venture between GE Healthcare and Microsoft, at the HIMSS13 annual meeting in New Orleans. This partnership brings an integrated offering to Caradigm customers that includes Get Real Health’s award-winning InstantPHR™ comprehensive patient engagement platform with the Caradigm Intelligence Platform (CIP), the next generation of Amalga. Caradigm’s flexible, cloud-based intelligence platform and applications help healthcare organizations improve care quality, optimize revenue and cost, and manage population health through the use of near real-time data.

Get Real Health’s InstantPHR™ is one of the applications that runs on the Caradigm Intelligence Platform, specifically to target population health management. InstantPHR™ provides a comprehensive patient engagement application designed to help healthcare providers reduce non-reimbursable readmissions by improving patient care treatment compliance and provide a means to track patient health metrics.

“I continue to be impressed with Caradigm’s team, their products and their healthcare management vision,” said Get Real Health CEO Mark Heaney. “I see our relationship not only as an extremely valuable asset, but as an opportunity to leverage our synergies and amplify our companies’ effectiveness in improving the healthcare system for all stakeholders.”

Toward that end, the Caradigm Intelligence Platform represents the next generation of its Amalga product. This new iteration introduces features designed to help organizations rapidly address big challenges, such as readmissions, clinical surveillance or Meaningful Use, while lowering the total cost of ownership.

Moreover, CIP offers a host of benefits that, with its inclusion of InstantPHR™, make it an especially powerful solution — enabling patient-directed care plans, tailored patient educational resources, alerts and reminders, health journaling, secured messaging, plus data sharing with family members and other caregivers. Designed to fit active, multiple-device lifestyles, these capabilities are available to patients and healthcare providers on all PC and mobile browsers.

“The Caradigm Intelligence Platform is designed to accelerate the delivery of new applications that solve tough and pervasive problems facing the industry,” said Brandon Savage, Chief Medical Officer, Caradigm. “Get Real’s InstantPHR product is an example of this innovation and will help providers more easily connect with patients and improve their experience while meeting Meaningful Use objectives for patient engagement.”

The Caradigm Intelligence Platform—along with Get Real Health’s InstantPHR™ product—will be demonstrated at booth #1323 during HIMSS 2013 in New Orleans. The Platform and select applications (including Get Real Health’s InstantPHR™) are commercially available immediately.

About Caradigm

Formed by GE Healthcare and Microsoft Corp. in June 2012, Caradigm is a 50–50 joint venture focused on enabling health systems and payers to drive continuous improvements in care. Caradigm software helps healthcare professionals across care settings to use data to gain critical insights, collaborate with each other and with patients, and to develop and implement innovative care solutions. Caradigm products—and applications built by partners to extend these products—give clinicians, administrators and finance teams timely access to key information, helping them to take steps to solve some of healthcare’s biggest challenges, including chronic disease management, preventable hospital readmissions and hospital acquired conditions, and to advance integrated, accountable care. Caradigm is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. For more information about the company, visit http://www.caradigm.com.

About Get Real Health

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, Get Real Health is an award-winning global health technology pioneer. We specialize in developing consumer healthcare solutions, personal health record application development, and connected health consulting. A Microsoft Technology Partner, Get Real has a diverse global customer base and is at the forefront of web and mobile-based health technology innovation. Visit: www.getrealhealth.com.

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March 1, 2013 I Written By John

Filed Under: EMR

Tags:Amalga Brandon Savage Caradigm Caradigm Intelligence Platform cloud-based GE Healthcare GE Healthcare and Microsoft Get Real Health Get Real Health’s InstantPHR Healthcare Organizations HIMSS13 InstantPHR Mark Heaney Meaningful Use Microsoft

DIEBOLD HEALTHCARE AND VECNA CREATE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE ON PATIENT ENGAGEMENT

Alliance combines Diebold Healthcare’s nationwide presence with Vecna’s innovative solutions to address demand for patient engagement tools that help providers achieve Meaningful Use.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Feb 28, 2013 – Vecna and Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD), today announced a strategic alliance enabling Diebold’s healthcare industry business unit, Diebold Healthcare, to provide national service capabilities for all Vecna deployments and distribute Vecna’s patient self-service solution in the Western United States and Canada.

Vecna’s patient self-service solution is an integrated platform that includes a patient portal, patient check-in solutions and queuing. Health systems have reduced administrative costs by more than $30 per patient visit, decreased patient wait times up to 75 percent and received Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursements related to Meaningful Use requirements by using Vecna’s solution.

“Today a patient cannot actively engage in his care because of a lack of access to the fragmented systems that hold his information,” said Ben Bau, Vecna’s VP and General Manager of patient self-service. “As a result, every interaction a patient has with his or her provider is made more frustrating, costly and error-prone than it has to be. These impediments to care are a fundamental barrier to patient engagement. Vecna’s solutions are delivered on a single platform so patients can engage with their providers from their homes, waiting rooms or mobile phones.”

Bau adds, “The alliance with Diebold will add significant value to Vecna’s extensive customer base, which includes more than 10,000 kiosks installed at more than 1,000 medical facilities, including the Veterans Administration medical centers, commercial hospital systems and independent ambulatory clinics. Our customers will now have access to Diebold’s superior network of more than 4,000 service technicians.”

The alliance also creates a unique and powerful solution for helping providers achieve the now-mandated 5 percent patient engagement. Vecna’s innovative self-service software already allows patients to update demographic data, make payments and review insurance information through any web-enabled device. Deploying that software on a Diebold Healthcare Patient Kiosk delivers those same benefits and more during the normal check-in process, before a patient leaves the hospital or clinic.

”We feel that combining Diebold’s proven success with self-service innovation and its service network with the expertise and software development capabilities of Vecna will provide an unmatched solution that will better serve hospitals and ultimately provide a safer, richer experience for patients,” said Dave Byrd, vice president and general manager of Diebold Healthcare.

The Diebold Healthcare patient self-service solution, powered by Vecna, is available today throughout North America. For more information, visit www.diebold.com/healthcare or www.vecna.com.

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I Written By John

Filed Under: Healthcare

Tags:Alliance Ben Bau Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Diebold Diebold Healthcare Diebold Healthcare Patient Kiosk Meaningful Use NYSE: DBD Vecna

New eiPortal for Healthcare Integration from PilotFish Brings “Self- Service” B2B Connectivity to Healthcare Stakeholders

What Online Banking Did for the Financial Industry, the eiPortal does for Healthcare by Providing Self-Service Implementation of B2B Data Exchange Along with 24/7 Access

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (PRWEB) February 27, 2013— Applied PilotFish Healthcare Integration, a provider of middleware healthcare integration solutions, announces the eiPortal for Healthcare Integration. The eiPortal is a cloud-based solution that provides all of the resources required to establish standardized initial and ongoing healthcare information exchange. The eiPortal combines a web repository, with all the resources required to configure an interface to a host organization’s system, together with a fully automated testing facility that allows validation and simulation of information exchanges before going live with the interface.

The eiPortal represents a healthcare interoperability breakthrough for onboarding data exchange customers of HIEs, Labs, Payers, Device and Equipment Manufacturers, Solution Providers and State Agencies—any organization that offers a standard set of interfaces, file formats or Web services for consumption by many customers.

“The eiPortal lifts the tremendous burden placed on IT resources tasked with supporting customer implementations,” said Monika Vainius, Vice President of Applied PilotFish Healthcare Integration. “By implementing an eiPortal and automating what has been a highly manual process, 80% of the effort required for onboarding customers can be eliminated.”

By implementing an eiPortal:

Individually providing customers with implementation requirements is replaced by forwarding them a URL. An online repository makes everything required to configure an interface to the host organization’s system available for download.
Desk-checking each sample data payload by staff is replaced with automated validation. Simulated responses to inbound messages are provided without requiring human intervention or full test environments.
Fielding customer questions is replaced with actionable error messages that tell customers not just that a problem occurred, but also how to fix it.
Hours spent tracking down why a customer’s message failed a test are replaced with a customer self-service log of messages.

The eiPortal can be leveraged to mediate the transmission of electronic medical records between providers, accept orders for medical tests, conduct Meaningful Use certification in real-time, enable standardized integration into or out of software offerings, and quickly integrate large numbers of customers by offering standard APIs and providing automated testing and validation.

The eiPortal is built on a flexible architecture that can be customized with private branding, implementation-specific documentation, and message validation rules. Unique security and transmission protocols, reporting requirements and endpoint system simulations are also available.

The eiPortal automates manual processes and empowers customers to self-implement. By investing in the eiPortal, highly coordinated work between an organization and its customers can be limited to truly implementation-unique discussions, for the benefit of all.

Applied PilotFish Healthcare Integration is exhibiting at HiMSS13, Booth #7941, March 4-6, 2013 – see live demos of the eiPortal and eiConsole for Healthcare (an IDE featuring a graphical Assembly Line for configuring interfaces).

About PilotFish

Founded in 2001 and based in Middletown, CT, PilotFish Technology provides middleware software that enables the integration of disparate systems. The eiPortal for Healthcare Integration is distributed through Applied PilotFish Healthcare Integration, Inc. (APHII), a subsidiary of PilotFish Technology. APHII distributes products directly to healthcare end-users and through select channel partners.

Address inquiries to: Monika Vainius, Vice President, 860-632-9900 x303.

www.pilotfishtechnology.com/industries/health

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February 28, 2013 I Written By John

Filed Under: EMR

Tags:APHII Applied PilotFish Healthcare Integration cloud-based solution eiConsole for Healthcare eiPortal eiPortal for Healthcare Integration electronic medical records Healthcare Information Exchange Healthcare Interoperability Meaningful Use middleware healthcare integration solutions Monika Vainius PilotFish Technology

Mitochon’s Electronic Medical Office (EMO) Partners with PDR Network to Provide Seamless Access to Updated Drug and Safety Information Benefiting EHR Users & Patients

– Implementing Key Drug Safety Features, Mitochon Recognized with the ‘PDR Certified’ Award –

Laguna Hills, CA/Montvale, NJ: February 27, 2013 – Mitochon Systems, a leading healthcare IT company serving providers throughout the country with a free web based Electronic Medical Office, announced today a new partnership with PDR Network, the leading distributor of FDA-approved patient drug safety and support services for EHR and e-Rx platforms, to integrate PDR’s suite of interactive drug information and safety services within their Electronic Medical Office (EMO) platform. Mitochon users now have access to PDR Network’s updated drug information, safety alerts, medication adherence and product support programs, which will enhance their experience and further enable them to provide optimal patient care.

Dr. Andre Vovan, Chairman of Mitochon Systems, stated, “Mitochon is continually looking for ways to add additional value to our free service to Physicians, particularly in the area of patient safety and improving outcomes” He continued “Working with PDR has been very efficient due to our similar focus on patient safety, improved out comes for patients and philosophy of integrating great resources within superior Physician workflow.”

Mitochon’s FREE end-to-end ELECTRONIC MEDICAL OFFICE (EMO) is a single source, Meaningful Use Certified solution enabling practices to provide better patient care and increase profits for physicians. EMO includes a patient portal, scheduling, clinical records, ePrescribing, lab integration, physician referrals, integrated Practice Management and Claims, ALL FREE. Founded by Dr. Andre Vovan, a nationally recognized physician, and funded by 44 physicians, the EMO service is designed by physicians for physicians. The FREE system is available in all U.S. states.

“We are very happy to have Mitochon join our growing EHR partner network as our fourth fully-integrated EHR partner, expanding our network to 26 industry-leading partners and more than 220 EHR systems, reaching nearly 100,000 EHR prescribers,” said Andrew Gelman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, PDR Network. “We understand the growing importance of EHRs in medical practice today and are proud to provide tools that enhance EHRs, increasing their functionality and safety in alignment with FDA goals for these systems.”

Mitochon end users have access to PDR interactive services today, earning the PDR Certified award in recognition for the system’s new level of drug safety features and functionality. Developed based on the FDA’s vision for EHR systems improving patient safety and reducing prescriber liability by delivering and collecting critical information at the point of care, the PDR Certified program recognizes those systems that meet this safety standard by integrating each of four key functions:

1. Full FDA Labeling,

2. Drug Alerts and Warnings (Safety Alerts, Boxed Warnings, Recalls and REMS Communications),

3. Adverse Drug Event Reporting, and

4. FDA-Compliant Patient Education or Support Services.

As part of this award, Mitochon Systems will display the “PDR Certified” logo indicating to existing and prospective customers that it complies with these important patient and drug safety standards. For more information on the PDR Certified program – developed by the independent iHealth Alliance in collaboration with PDR Network – please visit, www.PDRCertified.org.

Mitochon Systems was founded in 2006 by Andre Vovan, MD, MBA, FCCM, who is the director of a critical care department at a large California hospital. He created a system based on the free model because the cost of traditional EHR systems makes them unaffordable for many independent physicians. For information: (877) 817-0902 or www.mitochonsystems.com/about.

PDR Network’s comprehensive offering of interactive drug information services are designed to be easily integrated with any EHR or ePrescribing system and enhancing the EHR, provider and patient experience. For more information about PDR’s EHR partnership program, please visit www.PDRNetwork.com/PDR-in-EHR.

About PDR Network
PDR Network is the leading distributor of FDA-approved drug labeling, safety and product support information, delivering trusted content through the Physicians’ Desk Reference^® suite of digital and print services. Leveraging this propriety network, PDR disseminates critical healthcare information across channels to an active network of nearly 800,000 prescribers and via the growing “PDR Certified” network – 26 industry-leading partners delivering content via more than 220 EHR platforms reaching approaching 100,000 EHR providers as well as more than a half of a million additional end users.

A respected member of the healthcare community, PDR Network challenges itself as a company to deliver innovative products and services that meet the industry’s ever-changing needs. From a history of delivering the prescribing information most-trusted by physicians to its current position at the strategic intersection between the bio/pharmaceutical and EHR industries, PDR prides itself on developing practical solutions to benefit its partners. For more information, please visit www.PDRNetwork.com.

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I Written By John

Filed Under: Electronic Health Record Healthcare

Tags:Andrew Gelman Dr. Andre Vovan EHR ePrescribing Healthcare IT iHealth Alliance lectronic Medical Office Meaningful Use Mitochon Mitochon Systems PDR Network

ENCORE HEALTH RESOURCES LAUNCHES VALUE-BASED PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT™ SOLUTIONS SUITE POWERED BY CoreANALYTICS™

New lifecycle of services and software tools developed in partnership with CHI

HOUSTON – February 26, 2013 – Encore Health Resources, an award-winning health-information technology (HIT) services company, announced today the launch of its new Value-based Performance Improvement™ (VPI) suite of services and software. VPI features CoreANALYTICS™, a set of integrated analytical tools that helps drive continuous health-system performance improvement. In an industry moving rapidly from volume- to value-based reimbursement, VPI and CoreANALYTICS comprise a uniquely comprehensive solution that transforms data generated by electronic health record (EHR), financial, and operational systems into actionable intelligence for proactive management of patient populations, quality, and costs.

Encore’s Value-based Performance Improvement with CoreANALYTICS is poised to assist health systems meet and exceed thresholds for the quality and performance measures required to qualify for U.S. Government EHR Meaningful-Use incentive payments and avoid associated penalties—as well as manage emerging, at-risk government and commercial payment models. This new solution suite converts relevant data into intelligent, practical ways to help key stakeholders – including hospitals, physicians, and their patients – successfully navigate through and beyond challenges posed by the healthcare industry’s rapid shift from fee-for-service to fee-for-value.

Key VPI and CoreANALYTICS differentiators include a unique blend of Encore’s seasoned consultants with in-depth understanding of clinical data, proven methodologies and vendor-neutral analytical tools. These new tools help healthcare organizations focus on relevant quality and performance data while leveraging existing business-intelligence investments. This new, focused approach accelerates a client’s reimbursement transformation at a competitively low cost of entry through all stages of EHR Meaningful Use and also prepares them for evolving reimbursement models. VPI supports Value-Based Purchasing, Patient Centered Medical Homes, Clinical Integration Networking, and Accountable Care Organizations.

Another key differentiator is that CoreANALYTICS’ architecture allows for full or modular deployment. A full deployment includes the Data Acquisition Engine (extract, translate, and load); the Integrated Information Platform, including our Analytics Engine (creates a “smart, skinny” data warehouse); and the Quality and Performance Modules (building dynamic dashboards), which together provide a comprehensive data-to-information transformation solution. At the heart of the suite is Encore’s exclusive Analytics Engine, which enriches information through proven data derivation and measure calculations. These modular components can also be layered with an organization’s established data warehouse or reporting capability for a comprehensive, cost-effective solution.

Encore built its new solutions suite with development partner Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI). Today, CHI is successfully testing VPI and CoreANALYTICS to optimize its OneCare Program, a $2 billion, enterprise-wide initiative to advance patient care through the power of information. Using VPI and CoreANALYTICS, CHI’s goals are to leverage OneCare to create a powerful, information-based system that will drive significant improvements in patient care throughout its 70 hospitals across the U.S.

“Our partnership with Encore has significantly extended the power of OneCare to provide ‘in-time’ information that will help CHI understand how we are performing against our goals,” said Evon Holladay, MGA, Vice President, Enterprise Intelligence, Catholic Health Initiatives.

As the centerpiece of the VPI lifecycle of performance improvement services, CoreANALYTICS is focused on measures targeted at specific quality and performance data from source systems. It dynamically updates measures calculations to meet the demands of a rapidly transforming industry. Encore’s CoreGPS® Data Tool informs the Analytics Engine and eliminates the need for custom coding for new measures and calculations, thereby creating a lower-cost analytics solution.

The CoreANALYTICS Quality and Reporting Modules provide integrated views of actionable information and insight into quality and performance across patient populations. These modules include:

Meaningful Use Compliance and Reporting Module: Focused on analysis and reporting for successful participation in the CMS EHR Incentive Program and subsequent stages.
At-Risk Population Module: Analysis and reporting focused on high-cost, at-risk populations including analysis for care processes and utilization and performance against specific measures.
Clinical Analytics for Care Coordination Module: Provides physicians “in time” information using dashboards and reports to manage patients with preventive guidelines stratified by disease state.
Financial Analytics: Analyzes cost savings achieved through clinical integration efforts and new care processes calculated within specific treatment patterns, clinical focus areas, populations, or globally.

“Encore’s partnership with CHI created a demanding laboratory that presented real-world challenges in dozens of hospitals with multiple EHR systems and a unified goal for improved care delivery in an unprecedented environment of change,” said Dana Sellers, CEO, Encore Health Resources. “The result is our Value-based Performance Improvement lifecycle of services, featuring the CoreANALYTICS road-tested software tools, which are now ready to help clients across our industry gain new insights that drive increasing value throughout their organizations and a future of intelligent health performance.”

About Catholic Health Initiatives

Catholic Health Initiatives is a national nonprofit health system with headquarters in Englewood, Colo. The faith-based system operates in 19 states and includes 81 hospitals; 40 long-term care, assisted- and residential-living facilities; two community health-services organizations; two accredited nursing colleges; and home health agencies. In fiscal year 2012, CHI provided more than $715 million in charity care and community benefit, including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research. With total annual revenues of more than $10.7 billion and approximately 86,000 employees, CHI ranks as the nation’s second-largest faith-based health system.

About Encore Health Resources (Encore)

Founded by healthcare veterans Ivo Nelson and Dana Sellers, Encore provides information technology consulting services and solutions to assist healthcare organizations with a wide range of strategy, advisory, implementation, process-redesign, and optimization activities. Encore focuses on capturing data and establishing the analytical capabilities to meet the evolving information and reporting needs for health care providers to improve and document clinical and operational performance.

EMRapproved and HealthITxChange Collaborate to Benefit Healthcare and IT Professionals in the Adoption of Health IT

Partnership debuts at HIMSS13 in New Orleans

CHICAGO, Feb. 25, 2013 – Chicago health information technology (health IT) company EMRapproved is announcing a new collaboration with HealthITxChange, an online community where healthcare practitioners and health IT professionals share best practices and lessons learned throughout their electronic health record (EMR/EHR) implementation and ongoing health IT lifecycle.

The collaboration brings together both sites’ audiences who will share information and resources to benefit the health IT community at large. HealthITxChange partner organizations include the AHIMA Foundation, the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) and Health Level Seven International (HL7).

“EMRapproved is committed to providing comprehensive resources for the adoption of health information technology and electronic health records (EMR/EHR) for industry professionals,” explained EMRapproved CEO Kevin Donnelly. “HealthITxChange is unique in that they create an interactive and engaged community where members share knowledge and exchange ideas. Our mutual focus and priorities make this a truly strategic partnership.”

Combining the collaborative nature of a forum with the oversight of a medical publication, HealthITxChange brings together clinicians and health IT professionals to share their knowledge and best practices through “pearls” of information to summarize their collective experiences. These pearls are linked to in-depth discussions which provide users with the details of real life encounters on the road to implementation and Meaningful Use.

Visitors to EMRapproved.com, in particular the 900+ members of its 4Med Pro Network of consultants, will benefit from seamless access to the HealthITxChange pearls – and thus the collective wisdom and best practices of this thriving community.

Completing the collaboration, EMRapproved will link its 4Med Marketplace to the new HealthITxChange site. The 4Med Marketplace will provide a gateway for HealthITxChange members to access education and certification courses; EMR-related products; and consulting services (through the EMRapproved 4Med Pro Network).

“HealthITxChange’s primary goal is to foster community and collaboration among healthcare and health IT professionals. We are excited to unveil our added functionality that will support community collaboration,” said Helga Rippen, MD, PhD, chair of the HealthITxChange executive council. “By partnering with EMRapproved we are able to generate funds to continue to enhance the site but also provide our members access to the 4Med Marketplace, where they will find valuable, relevant resources all in one location.”

EMRapproved and HealthITxChange will be exhibiting at the HIMSS13 Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans at adjacent booths (#7916 and #7914) to highlight the benefits of the collaboration for the health IT industry. Show attendees will be able to see demonstrations of the various components of the collaboration, register for community membership, and become marketplace sponsors and benefactors of the organizations. Booth interaction opportunities include on-demand new sponsor signup; site resource demonstrations, side-by-side product comparisons and more.

HealthITxChange is supported by Westat Insight — Center for Health Information Technology for the Rockville Institute for the Advancement of Social Sciences, a 501(c)(3) charitable, tax-exempt organization whose mission is to advance the social sciences by conducting research and disseminating research findings to the public.

About the Rockville Institute

A Research Institute for the Advancement of Social Science is a non-profit (501c3) organization that operates exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. Westat is an affiliate organization of the Rockville Institute and makes its full range of corporate resources available to the Institute to perform Institute contracts and grants. Visit http://www.HealthITxChange.org.

About EMRapproved

EMRapproved is a robust health information technology (health IT) and electronic medical record (EMR) resource, providing assistance to professionals at all stages of the health IT implementation process by providing access to invaluable content, community, curriculum and consulting resources in one centralized location. The company offers free industry updates, tools and resources, including topical industry update columns HITAnswers and HITSecurity; provides education, certification and career retraining programs through its 4Med Pro Training program; and facilitates online networking, collaboration and professional consultation through its 4Med Pro Network. Support for the free resources available from EMRapproved is provided by sponsors of its new 4Med Marketplace, where users can buy health IT-related products and services. Learn more at http://www.emrapproved.com/.