Healthcare IT News - April 2008 - (Page 29)

www.HealthcareITNews.com payERS April 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 29 rEGEnCE Continued from page 28 Arizona Blue Cross Blue Shield sign new EDS agreement HEalTHCarE IT nEws Editors management is an emerging market, Regence is measuring every investment relative to consumerism and transparency, and strategy decision-making through the ability to get to critical data. Joyce Young, Mark Ganz program director for Health Industry Insights, an IDC company, said Choreo is well documented to improve the ability of health plans to manage contractual relationships and to automate and create consistencies within a plan’s internal processes. Young said the entire payer industry is moving away from transaction management to different models of information management. While the notion of transformational can be defined in myriad ways, she said, “Any time you can improve internal processes with these particular systems, you are preparing the way to focus on other issues and move on to share information and do collaborative work to improve the quality and cost of care.” ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: reGeNce 0408 – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona signed a new five-year contract with EDS, extending a 20-year agreement. The companies did not disclose the value of the new contract. Since signing the original agreement in 1987, the companies have worked together to consolidate BCBSAZ’s multiple claims processPHOENIX ing platforms onto EDS’ MetaVance platform. Today, MetaVance processes an average of 11 million claims per year for BCBSAZ. “Reaching the highest customer satisfaction levels while reducing operating costs is one of our top operational and strategic priorities at BCBSAZ,” said Elizabeth Messina, senior vice president and CIO for BCBSAZ. “Continuing to “Reaching the highest customer satisfaction levels is one of our top priorities ” – Elizabeth Messina use MetaVance is a key component to delivering on this priority.” The agreement calls for EDS to continue to deliver existing ser- vices, which include managing and enhancing MetaVance and hosting the software application at the EDS data center in Sacramento, Calif. As one of the first EDS clients to adopt MetaVance, the BCBSAZ team has suggested numerous architectural improvements in the claims processing software in use today. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: arizoNa 0408 ● ● MIssourI Continued from page 28 electronic medical records, lab data, home and community-based services integration, and lab and immunization registry data inclusion. Oestrich touted the value of EHRs, saying, “EHRs are the best source for information. It is integrated into the pre-certification process and clinical rules check. EHRs provide real time data on participants and allow physicians to monitor their patients’ plan of care.” Physician adoption of EHRs is particularly high for those in the MO HealthNet program. Cornelius said providers have reported the system is user-friendly and intuitive. “We have tried to increase the functionality of the tool as much as possible with the state’s direction so that the providers have more and more reason to open up the tool and use it,” she said. Cathy Varnell, RN, at St. Mary’s Medical Clinic & Urgent Care of Jefferson City, said the EHR system enabled the new family practice to easily take in Medicaid patients because their data were already in the system. “It’s a great tool,” she said, allowing her to pull up data quickly for patient visits, as well as flag patients with drugseeking behavior. It would be nice, she said, to be able to retrieve clinical data for all their patients. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: MiSSoUri 0408 ● Whether equipment is needed for patient care, preventive maintenance or upgrades, the inability to efficiently locate assets can cost hospitals thousands per day in lost productivity. Add improved inventory management and equipment utilization and you have compelling reasons to consider the PanGo® Enterprise Asset Visibility solution. By aggregating location data from a variety of RTLS and RFID sources, such as 802.1 passive and ultra-wide band tags, only PanGo can meet all of your 1, current and future location tracking needs. To learn more about this costoptimized, scalable solution visit www.innerwireless.com or call 214-242-7777 . e ● Connect: iNNerWireleSS 0408 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9010 http://www.HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9006 http://www.innerwireless.com http://www.HealthcareITnews.com http://www.innerwireless.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9005 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=9026

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - April 2008

Healthcare IT News - April 2008 Contents New Media Push Stepping Down BI Headaches Decision Grants Safety Alerts Summit 08 Growing an EHR Year 24

Healthcare IT News - April 2008

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