Healthcare IT News - December 2008 - (Page 38)

38 Healthcare IT News December 2008 ■ www.HealthcareITNews.com NEWSBRIEFS WI-FI pRovIdER WaypoRt IS acquIREd By at&t Wayport, an Irving, Texas-based provider of managed Wi-Fi services for healthcare providers, hotels and restaurants, has been acquired by AT&T, Inc. The deal, worth roughly $275 million in cash, adds Wayport’s portfolio of services to Dallas-based AT&T’s Internet protocol and 3G networks and boosts Wayport’s presence on the global stage, where it currently occupies roughly 20,000 hotspots and 80,000 locations. Providing a platform for learning IT vendors strike deals with medical schools, students. By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor ITH PHYSICIAN ADOPTION of electronic medical records still woefully low, some healthcare technology vendors are looking to the next genera- W tion of doctors. Practice Fusion, a San Francisco-based provider of free EMR technology for physicians, has launched the Academic Program, a modified version of its EMR software designed for universities, students and residents. “I don’t think those guys are coming out of the gate with a ny s o f tw a r e experience right now,” says Ryan Howard, Practice Fusion’s chairman and CEO, whose software is now being Ryan Howard used by the University of West Florida. “This gives us the ability to get in on the ground floor.” Spring Medical Systems, a Houston-based developer of SpringCharts EHR and SpringCharts Essentials, is working with McGraw Hill to have its technology included in educational textbooks. According to CEO Jack Smyth, medical schools that purchase these textbooks also gain the right to sCHools see page 40 FRaNcISco paRtNERS puRchaSES apI SoFtWaRE Francisco Partners, the San Francisco-based private equity firm with a stake in several healthcare technology vendors,has announced plans to acquire API Software, Inc., a Hartford, Wis.-based developer of labor management software and services for healthcare providers. API offers staffing and scheduling, patient classification, payroll, human resources, productivity management, education tracking and access control software for healthcare providers. One of the company’s more popular products is Payrollmation, a software suite that helps providers automate and manage time and attendance operations. NaviMedix builds platform to connect payers and providers By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor CAMBRIDGE, MA – mEdhoSt addS SElF-SERvE kIoSk to Ed platFoRm MEDHOST, based in Addison, Texas, has introduced the Emergency Department Patient Access Self Services (ED PASS) and announced that three kiosks will be installed at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, the Northridge, Calif.-based flagship hospital of the Catholic Healthcare West system. The new kiosk offers a touch screen interface for simple data entry, allowing ED visitors to use a driver’s license to register. Patient demographics are quickly captured in the system, allowing clinicians to see the reason for the patient’s visit, the location and intensity of the injury, and complaint-specific risk factors. Desktop alerts then notify clinicians when a high-risk patient checks in. ToxED expands database for better emergency care By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor TAMPA, FL – Gold Standard’s revised electronic clinical toxicology reference, ToxED, is designed to give clinicians – especially those working in emergency departments – quick and accurate information at the point of care for treatment of poisonings, drug overdoses and exposure to chemicals and hazardous waste. aERoScout addS uav SERvIcE to INNERWIRElESS platFoRm InnerWireless, Inc., a Richardson, Texasbased provider of in-building converged wireless solutions, is joining forces with AeroScout, Inc. to deliver an end-to-end wireless offering on InnerWireless’ Horizon platform. The company will now offer Redwood City, Calif.-based AeroScout’s unified asset visibility (UAV) solutions as part of the Horizon package, allowing providers to use standard Wi-Fi networks to track and manage the location, conditions and status of assets and personnel. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: VeNDorS 1208 ● A developer of drug information databases is harnessing the power of the Internet to help physicians respond more quickly to cases of poisoning. Gold Standard, a Tampa, Fla.-based provider of drug information software and clinical information solutions and a subsidiary of Elsevier, has released a newly updated and revised ToxED, the company’s electronic clinical toxicology reference. The updated database is designed to give clinicians quick and easy access to information at the point of care for the diagnosis and treatment of poisonings, drug overdoses and exposure to chemicals or hazardous waste. “ToxED is a crisp, concise, detailed, current and clinically relevant online resource designed to help clinicians get the information they need to support clinical care,” said Michael W. Shannon, MD, ToxED’s medical editor-in-chief and co-chairman thE NEWS: Gold Standard updates ➔ ToxED database. What It mEaNS: Physicians ➔ A handful of revenue cycle management vendors are coming together to help hospitals better manage payment responsibilities at the point of care. The initiative is spearheaded by NaviMedix, a Cambridge, Mass.-based provider of communications software and services connecting healthcare providers and payers. With plans to create an “all payer, all patient” payment system, the company acquired Topline Solutions, Inc., which provides healthcare payment and collection solutions, and is partnering with “different plans are at different levels of providing payment estimates. those payers need to evolve along their own lines and still be supported.” – Tom Morrison ClearCycle, Ingenix and Moneris to set up its revenue cycle management platform. The key to that platform, says Tom Morrison, vice president plaTform see page 40 have access to better information on toxic elements, antidotes. of its board of directors. More than 2.4 million poisonings were reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 2005, with almost one-quarter of them requiring treatment in a medical facility and roughly 1,300 ending in death. In addition, poison control centers nationwide average one poison exposure case every 14 seconds, more than half of which involve a child under the age of 6. “These interesting but atypical cases tend not to meet clinicians’ needs and require an extensive amount of time to search and review,” said Shannon, who is also chief emeritus of the Division of Emergency Medicine ToxIC see page 40 America wants doctors and their offices to become familar with the Internet Among those who have a regular doctor or medical provider: 37% 10% 43% 20% e ● Connect: GraPHS 1208 Source: 2007 commonwealth fund international health policy Survey/harriS interactive. http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10514

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

Healthcare IT News - December 2008 Contents AHIC 2.0 Debuts See How It Works Monitored to Health Right Decisions Neurologist Needed HiMSS Insider: Four to the Board Heartened Generation Next Clinical Toolkit: Inpatient EMRs Management Solutions: Asset Tracking

Healthcare IT News - December 2008

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