Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 32)

32 Healthcare IT News August 2007 ■ www.HealthcareITNews.com NEWSBRIEFS PRactIcE FuSIoN acquIRES MEdIcal chaRtWIzaRd San Francisco-based Practice Fusion, Inc. has announced the acquisition of Medical ChartWizard Systems, a comprehensive electronic medical record, for an undisclosed sum. Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard says the two companies’ products are complementary, and that Medical ChartWizard’s EMR “is one of the few solutions designed from the ground up to specifically address the workflows of the small practice offices.” Medical ChartWizard’s senior executive, Robert Rowley, MD, will join Practice Fusion as chief medical officer. Misys sells 2 units, sharpens focus Company to focus on EMR services for physicians. By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor RALEIGH, NC – The recent sale of two business units of Misys Healthcare is the “first volley” in the company’s efforts to rebound from a troubled year. The British banking and healthcare software firm, whose healthcare arm is based in Raleigh, N.C., announced on July 22 that it had sold its GEtWEllNEtWoRk lauNchES PatIENtlIFE SyStEM 2.5 GetWellNetwork, Inc., a Bethesda, Md.based provider of interactive patient care solutions, has released PatientLife System 2.5, which is designed to help patients navigate their own way through a hospital stay while allowing staff to deliver patientcentered care. The newest offering was tested at Christiana Care Hospital, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and King’s Daughters Medical Center for patient feedback. The solution includes education, communication and entertainment tools. Tucson, Ariz.-based diagnostic systems business to Vista Equity Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, and its San Bernardino, Calif.-based computerized patient records business to QuadraMed of Reston, Va. The two deals netted Misys about $414.5 million and consolidated the company’s offerings to software for physicians’ offices. “We’re focusing on a segment … which has tremendous growth ahead of it,” said Vern Davenport, executive vice presi- Misys Healthcare, seen here at a previous HIMSS conference and exhibition, has decided to sell off two of its hospital-based business units and focus on providing software to physician practices. OCS-Homecare agreement targets predictive modeling By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor RALEIGH, NC – A new partnership will allow Misys to use predictive modeling to chart and plan for home healthcare visits. Misys announced a strategic partnership last month with OCS, Inc., which collects, analyzes and interprets healthcare information. The deal will allow Misys to use OCS’ predictive modeling tools in its Misys Homecare software solution, currently in use in about 650 modeling See Page 33 dent and general manager of Misys Healthcare Systems. “And our strength is in that ambulatory market space.” The two hospital-based units being sold “are great businesses that enjoy strong customer support,” he added. “Fundamentally, we could not invest properly in all of the business we were in … and so it’s pure strategy to put those assets in the hands of other owners.” Misys’ problems came to a head last fall when the company’s founder, Kevin Lomax, tried to take the company private in a managem e n t b u y o u t Mike Lawrie that ultimately failed. Lomax was replaced in October by former IBM and ValueAct Capital executive Mike Lawrie, who made it clear from the start that the company’s healthcare unit misys See Page 33 dIaloG MEdIcal coNtRactS WIth RESuRREctIoN hEalth Dialog Medical, an Atlanta-based provider of informed consent and patient education systems for hospitals and physician practices, has announced a new contract for its iMedConsent application with Resurrection Health Care, an eight-hospital system serving the Chicago area. iMedConsent includes procedure-specific consent forms for more than 2,100 medical and surgical procedures, patient education documents for thousands of diagnoses and treatments and an anatomical image gallery that allows the physician to simplify topics for the patient. Implementation is expected to be completed by the end of September. MediServe changes course PSS buys a Respiratory care IT firm stake in opts to follow the money. athenahealth By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor TEMPE, AZ – By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor JACKSONVILLE, FL – EhEalth GloBal, PoRtaBlE INFo MaNaGEMENt SIGN dEal Rochester, N.Y.-based eHealth Global Technologies, Inc. has signed a deal with Portable Information Management Systems, Inc. to provide eHealth Global’s eRetriever service to customers who purchase PIMS’ MedicKey Digital Information Chip, a customized USB device. The eRetriever service allows eHealth Global to assist MedicKey customers with the retrieval of their medical records, which eHealth Global then populates with their personal data, including scanned documents and medical images. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: VeNDorS 0807 A company that focuses on supplying doctors with medical products and inventory management systems is looking to help them pay their bills, too. PSS World Medical of Jacksonville, Fla. announced on July 2 that it has made a $22.5 million equity investment, approximately 5 percent of current outstanding shares, in athenahealth, Inc., a Watertown, Mass.-based provider of revenue cycle management, practice management and EMR solutions. In addition, PSS’ Physician Sales & Service branch will be marketing athenahealth’s Webbased solutions to the physician market. According to David S m i t h , P S S Wo r l d Medical’s CEO, smallpractice physicians who aren’t affiliated with hos- David Smith pitals – he estimates there are between 200,000 and 300,000 in the country athena See Page 34 In the arena of respiratory care technology, there’s little room for error. You either help a patient to breathe again, or you don’t. And if you don’t, bad things happen. For 22 years, MediServe has focused its solutions on hospitals, offering software that helps Respiratory Care departments refine and automate their services. The company has also branched out into post-acute care and rehabilitative care facilities. “The software that we provide guides those therapists through their analyses,” said Zach Mortensen, the company’s director of marketing. On July 9, MediServe announced an agree- ment with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center to deploy its respiratory care solution at UCSD Medical Center-Hillcrest in San Diego and Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. The system will switch from its current solution to the MediLinks application suite, which includes the ReportLink analytics module. “MediLinks offers the unique functionality to support our environment in which 95 percent of care is delivered using protocols,” said Rick Ford, UCSD’s respiratory director. He said the suite “will allow UCSD Respiratory Care to achieve even greater gains in capturing therapist workday activities, the deployment of resources across sites, the automation of protocols, regulatory agency compliance and maximizing the time medilinks See Page 34 What percentage of carts purchased for your facility are: Used for clinical documentation? Used with barcode scanners? Used for medication administration and clinical documentation? Used for medication administration? 71.3% 58.9% 56.7% 33.5% ● Based on a survey of 304 hospital executives. e ● Connect: GraPHS 0807 SOURCE: HEALTHCARE IT NEWS 2006 MOBILE WORKSTATION STUDY. http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7594 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7531

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - August 2007

Contents AHIC Redux IT Saving Lives IT, Wal-Mart Style OR Workflow Counting on Quality PHR Position Tapping Talent Slimming Down E-Prescribing Claims Processing

Healthcare IT News - August 2007

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