Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 34)

34 Healthcare IT News August 2007 ■ NEW PRoductS www.HealthcareITNews.com ElSEvIER lauNchES oNlINE tRaINING tool FoR docS PHILADELPHIA, PA FuJIFIlM RElEaSES SyNaPSE 3.2 WIth advaNcEd PacS STAMFORD, CT - Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc. has released Synapse version 3.2, its latest PACS software product. With a number of enhancements to existing mammography capabilities, as well as improvements to Fujifilm’s reading protocol technology, Synapse 3.2 is equipped to address the rapid adoption of digital mammography by providing advanced capabilities for the soft copy interpretation of mammography and other breast imaging studies. Improvements to Fujifilm’s reading protocol technology also improve the mammography capabilities of Synapse. For instance, reader-specific preferences can be set to provide for efficient and consistent workflows which are critical to the interpretation of all studies, including digital mammography. These user preferences will apply even when FFDM data is integrated into the existing continuum of ultrasound, MR and other breast imaging exams. – Elsevier, a publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, has released Procedures Consult, an online multimedia training and reference tool that helps physicians, medical residents and students prepare for, perform and test their knowledge of 39 top medical procedures. Procedures Consult helps physicians visualize and review procedures through a blend of text, video, animation and illustrations. Physicians who access the Web-based product can view a video of a common procedure such as a central line placement or nasogastric intubation. Each procedure includes video of what physicians see when doing the procedure and high-quality animation of aspects that the physician can’t see but needs to visualize. Physicians can also jump to any section of a video or repeat specific sections and step-by-step text and illustrations accompany each procedure. Related information such as indications, contraindications, anatomy, equipment and complications are also included. Synapse version 3.2 is the latest PACS software release from Fujifilm Medical Systems. Fujifilm has optimized the presentation of images for diagnostic screening by enhancing the visualization and image processing tools. WEBchaRt EMR GEtS PqRI ModulE, aIdS P4P PRoGRaMS FORT wAyNE, IN – Medical Informatics Engineering has added a Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) module to its WebChart electronic medical record system. This module automatically generates the data required for the PQRI voluntary reporting program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, making it easier for practices to qualify for the 1.5 percent PQRI bonus payment. As patient encounters are documented, WebChart automatically populates the PQRI datacaP uPGRadES FoRMS PRocESSING SoFtWaRE TARRyTOwN, Ny - Datacap Inc. has upgraded module based on 74 unique measures identified by CMS for the 2007 PQRI program. The WebChart PQRI module then generates specific CPT II quality-data codes associated with each measure, which are submitted as part of each claim. Taskmaster 7, its capture and forms processing software. Taskmaster 7 introduces many new elements, that includes a number of best-of-breed technologies that expand and simplify capture for end-users. These include One Touch scanning from Visioneer, and additional OCR recognition from ABBYY. NEW valIdatIoN PRocESS FoR oNlINE NuRSE ExaMS HIGH POINT, NC - Amistaff Healthcare Technology has updated its NurseTesting. com service, using a new validation process it says has never before applied to healthcare competency exams. This validation process will give hospitals and healthcare staffing firms access to exam content linked directly to specific job functions and requirements. NurseTesting.com provides an extensive library of exams which follow standards set forth by the Joint Commission. Amistaff is further refining these exams by applying a nationally recognized standard for evaluating positions through research with clinical experts in an exam’s target specialty. This validation includes a continuous evaluation cycle designed to update exams as standards of care evolve. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: ProDuctS 0807 ● mEdIlINks Continued from page 32 therapists spend at the bedside.” As an additional benefit, Ford, who also serves as chairman of the management section and benchmarking committee of the American Association for Respiratory Care, said UCSD will use ReportLink to support its research programs. While Mortensen calls the UCSD implementation “an important feather in our cap,” he notes the company is moving in a new direction by packaging its offering as a financial solution rather than a software solution. “We’re seeing that the financial aspect is more significant than in the past,” he said. “We want to position ourselves at the junction of clinical and financial decision-making in post-acute care.” The company introduced itself to the financial side of the healthcare field at ANI 2007, this year’s HFMA convention held in June in San Diego. At the time, Mortensen and other company officials touted MediLinks as a point-of-care application that can increase client revenues by as much as 25 percent. Coinciding with that show, the company announced an agreement with Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital of Boston in which MediLinks would be used to increase revenue and reduce costs in the Spaulding Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility and Spaulding’s Pediatric Unit at the Massachusetts Eye and ing procedures through CMS-audited algorithms. Picis had announced last August that it had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO. News reports at that time indicated the company planned to raise $86.25 million through the IPO for “general corporate purchases,” such as developing new products, enhancing existing products, sales and marketing, acquisitions and debt repayment. It put a halt to those plans on July 3. According to Cozzens, the acquisition of LYNX Medical Systems will create an endto-end solution, specifically designed for a hospital’s emergency department, that links clinical documentation with coding and reimbursement revenue management. “From every perspective, short and long term, strategically, financially and operationally, this acquisition represents another major milestone for Picis,” Cozzens said. “We believe we will be the only company able to offer our customers a truly differentiated, “We want to position ourselves at the junction of clINIcal aNd FINaNcIal dEcISIoN-MakING to PoSt-acutE caRE.” – Zach Mortensen Ear Infirmary. “MediServe allows us to provide the highest clinical outcomes for patients, efficiently manage data and streamline operations as we face continued regulatory pressure,” said John Campbell, Spaulding’s CIO. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MeDiliNkS 0807 aTHENa Continued from page 32 ● Ipo Continued from page 1 debt, with an estimated value of $155 million. The company followed that announcement with news that it will use some of the funding to acquire LYNX Medical Systems, a Bellevue, Wash.-based provider of revenue cycle management solutions to hospital emergency departments. “When the opportunity to acquire LYNX Medical Systems presented itself, it caused us to re-evaluate the timing of our planned initial public offering,” Picis President and CEO Todd Cozzens said. “We are delighted that Goldman Sachs will continue to be our financial adviser and a major investor in Picis.” The Wakefield, Mass.-based company provides an integrated emergency department information system (EDIS) through its CareSuite ED PulseCheck application. LYNX offers E/Point and E/Code software and services that address accuracy in cod- integrated and cost-effective tool to manage the growing complexities of the emergency department, the fastest growing hospital care department.” “The combination of Picis and LYNX will create an organization that is uniquely positioned and qualified to address the substantial information management challenges and opportunities of the growing high-acuity healthcare market,” added Gene Cattarina, LYNX’s president and CEO. Details of the Picis-LYNX deal were not disclosed. Proceeds from the Goldman Sachs funding that won’t be used in the LYNX purchase will be deployed to retire existing debt and provide additional working capital. “The opportunity to invest in Picis is consistent with our long-standing desire to invest in companies with strong growth and earnings potential in healthcare,” said Chris McFadden, managing director of Goldman Sachs & Co. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: iPo 0807 – have seen their incomes drop 10 percent over the past five or six years due to insurance reimbursement problems and rising administrative costs associated with billing. And studies have indicated that 35 percent of medical charges submitted by doctors to insurance companies for reimbursement are denied. ‘That’s the work you do for free,” he says. And for small-practice physicians who are “outgunned and outmanned and out-dollared by the insurance companies, that’s too much.” Athenahealth, founded in 1997 by Todd Park and Jonathan Bush, numbers 583 employees and competes with vendors like GE Healthcare, Sage Software and Misys in the highly competitive physician practices market. Company officials filed on June 22 a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of common stock, through which it hopes to raise $86 million. The company is now in its “quiet period” and is therefore unable to discuss ongoing business. Smith calls the deal between athenahealth and PSS “a very nice fit between the two companies,” He says athenahealth offers “a dummyproof way for physicians to enter what they do on a form the insurance companies can’t deny,” and estimates that a PSS-athenahealth solution will reduce insuran http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://NurseTesting.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7533 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7530 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7529 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7546

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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