• NewsMakers •
athenahealth
The Oregon Medical Association (OMA) is offering athenahealth’s Web-based practice management (PM) services to its more than 7,400 member physicians. OMA expects their new PM solution to better enable its physicians to follow up on unpaid claims reimbursement and to streamline their practices’ clinical and operational workflows. The association is also considering the possibility of using payer-performance data from the PM service vendor to assist their physician advocacy efforts in the state legislature and with third-party payers.
MEDSEEK
Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health tasked MEDSEEK to provide it with a corporate eHealth plan for enhancing the hospital system’s interaction with patients, physicians and other associates via the Web through a health information exchange. Development of a new platform for healthcare services, easing access to information for key customers and constituents, and broadening its means of communications are several stated goals the health system has for the new e-health plan partnership.
Premier Inc.
Eight hospitals in Ohio selected the SafetySurveillor from the Premier Inc. healthcare alliance as their Web-based solution for detecting and alerting staff to healthcare-associated infections. The hospitals include four in the Kettering Health Network, in Kettering; two among the Summa Health System, in Akron; and, two others in Cincinnati.
Gateway EDI
Electronic data interchange solutions-provider Gateway EDI acquired Professional Management Group of Virginia Inc. (PMG) under terms neither privately held company divulged. PMG submits the electronic claims of more than 5,000 Virginia providers at more than 500 facilities throughout the mid-Atlantic region. These clients now have access to Gateway EDI’s vast network of solutions and more than 30,000 providers nationwide.
HealthTransaction Network
A nationwide healthcare provider network known as The HealthTransaction Network has been created to provide routine wellness and preventative care services to underserved populations. The first of its kind, it uses an electronic transaction network that quickly, securely and efficiently processes transactions between providers and consumers. Participation is open to all healthcare providers nationwide — consumers access and purchase services by subscription and by obtaining a card from a participating provider or employer.
PGP Corp.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Payformance Health deployed the PGP Whole Disk Encryption platform to protect sensitive customer healthcare data accessed and viewed on corporate laptops or stored on hard drives. Payformance Health is centrally managing the deployment with the PGP Universal Server, integrated with Microsoft Active Directory, to leverage its existing user-management system and take advantage of the single sign-on capabilities of the new encryption solution.
Sunquest Information Systems Inc.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) contracted with the professional services group of Sunquest Information Systems to help expand and transfer its IT software assets and capabilities from the current LAS+USC Medical Center to a new replacement hospital on the same site. Sunquest assisted with transferring the Sunquest laboratory information system to the new facility and also with implementing and integrating numerous enterprise applications in the hospital’s IT infrastructure to maximize operational efficiency.
MedAssets Inc.
One of the five largest public health systems in the nation, Broward Health, selected MedAssets for group purchasing, supply chain analytics and technology, and tools and services for revenue integrity enhancement. Additionally, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based public healthcare provider is utilizing the company’s revenue management solutions, including chargemaster management and defensible pricing services. Broward Health is also implementing the CrossWalk product for continuous linking of supply cost data with charge data.
MedPlus
The Brooklyn Health Information Exchange (BHIX) awarded a contract to MedPlus to implement a clinical portal and information exchange. The company is providing BHIX consulting, project management, design and implementation services to deploy its clinical portal, data exchange engine and document management and imaging system. The system enables clinicians to securely collect, manage and share patient information in real time from Internet-enabled locations across BHIX’s 11 partner organizations. The BHIX exchange should be operational by July.
CitiusTech
Twenty-six CitiusTech technology professionals received the HL7 Control Specialist Certification from a program conducted by the HL7 organization. With the addition of these certified professionals, CitiusTech enhances the healthcare domain expertise of its technology team as part of a strategy for building standards-based products and solutions for its clients.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
ZixCorp is conducting a joint pilot of disease management enrollment alerts through their PocketScript e-prescribing service with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). The disease management enrollment system uses the e-prescribing service to notify physicians at the point of care that their patient may be eligible for enrollment in a BCBSMA disease management program.
eHealth Global Technologies
Rush University Medical Center, the University of California, San Diego Medical Center and the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview, signed contracts for the eHealthConnect service from eHealth Global Technologies. The service provides the healthcare systems and facilities with medical records and imaging study collection solutions for patients that are referred to these facilities.