BCBS Louisiana Signs for Care Management Software
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) has signed up to use Wayne, Pa.-based MEDecision Inc.'s Collaborative Care Management software.
Collaborative Care Management includes technologies to optimize data analysis, automate workflow processes and electronically connect patients, health plans and physicians to give each a shared view of a patient's current and historic medical information, according to MEDecision.
Providence Health Selects Asset Tracking Solution
Seattle-based Providence Health and Services (PHandS), a 27-hospital network which operates in Alabama, Washington, Montana, Oregon and California will begin deploying a system to track high-value hospital assets, say the two companies selected for the project.
For the implementation, PHandS will utilize St. Louis-based World Wide Technology Inc. (WWT) as systems integrator and AeroScout Inc.(Redwood City, Calif.), a provider of Wi-Fi-based Active RFID solutions. Together the two will configure, install, train and support a Wi-Fi-based asset tracking and location solution at Providence's Centralia location, say the companies.
Beginning with Centralia, PHandS plans to implement the hospital tracking solution in other facilities across the state of Washington, tracking assets throughout facilities utilizing existing Wi-Fi networks. The company says the first phase of the project will be to track networked devices, such as laptops and tablets.
Brooklyn Hospital Gets IT Overhaul
New York's Brooklyn Hospital Center, a 463-bed academic community hospital, will implement Atlanta-based Eclipsys' Sunrise Clinical Manager in both inpatient and outpatient settings, says the company.
The hospital plans to implement the company's Acute Care, Ambulatory Care, Critical Care, Emergency Care, Pharmacy and Medication Administration modules.
Brigham and Women's Picks Partner
Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has selected Hoboken, N.J.-based Care Management International Inc. to administer the enrollment phase of a member outreach clinical trial.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the trial will assess whether education from clinical coaches improves adherence to osteoporosis medication in elderly members who are covered by the Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) program. PACE is a state-run prescription program for Pennsylvania residents with limited incomes, who are 65 older enrolled in a prescription assistance program.
Care Management International's specific charter is to provide BWH with enrollment services and operational metrics on call summary statistics while gathering demographic data typically not available in the enrollment phase of these projects.
CMS Goes with Oracle
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle's Healthcare Transaction Base as the foundation of its HIGLAS (healthcare integrated general ledger accounting system) History System, the software company says.
According to Oracle, CMS launched the HIGLAS dual entry system in 2005 to create a uniform financial management system to account for more than $600 billion in annual healthcare outlays. The HIGLAS History initiative is designed to provide a document-centric view of claim information to internal CMS users for answering intermediary and provider inquiries on individual claim status reports. Oracle's base will help CMS facilitate customer service through automation and will enable system users to trace documents from initiation to completion — tracking related financial and non-financial activity, the company claims.
Oracle's Healthcare Transaction Base is a standards-based data repository with a set of integrated services for data normalization, customer-defined security and auditing, and business process/workflow.
Kings County Brings Kiosks to the ED
Kings County Hospital Center, a 627-bed public hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., will deploy self-service kiosks in its emergency department to streamline the check-in and triage process, according to Maitland, Fla.-based Galvanon.
Galvanon says its MediKiosk solution will automate patient registration and help ED staff prioritize treatment based on medical urgency in the hospital's emergency department.
Patients arriving at the Kings County ED proceed directly to the registration kiosk. They then identify themselves by entering their name on the touchscreen, along with an additional identifier, such as a birth date. Patients indicate their symptoms by pointing to areas on a body diagram where they feel pain and answering brief questions about the nature of their visit. Once the process is complete, the data is sent to the emergency room's main computer system where a nurse is able to review and monitor patient information.
Our Lady of Lourdes Deploys RTLS
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, N.J. (410 beds) recently chose RadarFind's Real Time Location System (RTLS) to provide status information for asset and patient tracking.
The hospital will use the system to manage equipment and monitor patient throughput. RadarFind's antenna-based technology and system components plug into many AC outlets and require no new wiring or ceiling and wall penetration, states the Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based company.
NewYork-Presbyterian Taps OR Tech
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City has gone live with a real-time data integration and display product in the OR from Cambridge, Mass.-based LiveData Inc.
The Visually Integrated Operating Room (VIOR) harnesses available information resources — information systems, medical devices, surgical video, PACS systems, etc. — to deliver a comprehensive picture of the surgical case, updated in real time, says the company.
Supporting 2,335 beds, NewYork-Presbyterian has implemented the VIOR in four operating rooms located at its two major medical centers: orthopedic and neurosurgery ORs at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center; and at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in urology and gastrointestinal surgery ORs.
LiveData says New York-Presbyterian implemented the product in collaboration with audio-visual systems partner York Telecom (Eatontown, N.J.), and incorporates voice and video communications. York Telecom's A/V routing and control enables the bidirectional presentation of video information, the company states.
Sloan-Kettering Integrates Capital Projects
New York-based Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has chosen Unifier from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Skire to integrate its project finance and delivery infrastructures.
Unifier will replace MSKCC's proprietary system. According to Skire, it will add new functionality to track multiple projects and funding sources, and simplify MSKCC's ability to meet the New York State Department of Health's Certificate of Need (CON) reporting and management requirements.
MSKCC expects to integrate Unifier with the institution's finance, contract administration, and administration collaboration applications to gain greater control over budget and cost tracking.
Approximately 100 staff members will use the solution.
North Mississippi Health Gets RCM Solution
According to Atlanta-based Eclipsys, North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) has selected its Sunrise Patient Financials as a revenue cycle management solution. NMHS is a diversified regional healthcare organization that serves 22 counties in north Mississippi and northwest Alabama, and is headquartered in Tupelo, Miss.
Eclipsys says its Sunrise Patient Financials patient-billing and receivables-management solution will enable NMHS to streamline its billing processes, maximize reimbursements, improve cash flow and enhance patient satisfaction. The product may also help NMHS extend financial workflows out to payers and the larger patient community using electronic data interchange and Web capabilities, the company says.
NMHS will use the Eclipsys solution to extend the same revenue cycle workflows across all of its facilities, providing a single entry point for corporate- and hospital-level information, the vendor claims.
Shriners Hospital Picks McKesson
Tampa, Fla.-headquartered Shriners Hospitals for Children has chosen San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. for its PACS and data center storage.
Shriners has signed for IT from McKesson across its 22-hospital system. The contract includes implementation of the Horizon Medical Imaging PACS, which allows the healthcare system to electronically capture, retrieve, view and store medical imaging of any type from multiple locations, McKesson says. In addition, Shriners Hospitals and McKesson will create a secondary data center to enable improved disaster recovery.
Shriners Hospitals for Children is an international system in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It provides specialty pediatric care to children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate.
St. Joseph Goes for Azyxxi
In an effort to optimize treatment decisions by getting better access to data, Orange, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System has sign on to use Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp.'s Azyxxi integration engine.
The implementation will allow St. Joseph clinicians to make more informed decisions by providing a holistic view to data that is stored in silos across the organizations, the company touts. Accessible on computers, tablet PCs and handheld devices, Azyxxi provides real-time responses to clinical, administrative and research-specific questions.
St. Joseph is the first West Coast early adopter of the unified health enterprise platform and is the sixth early adopter of Azyxxi. With 14 hospitals, St. Joseph Health System community-based hospital network serves communities in Northern California, Southern California, and West Texas/Eastern New Mexico.
VA Picks Cerner for Labs
The United States Department of Veternas Affairs (VA) has signed a nine-year agreement with Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner Corp. to utilize the Millenium PathNet laboratory information system in more than 150 hospitals and 800 clinics in the Veterans Health Adminsitration sytem.
According to Cerner, the Millennium PathNet laboratory information system automates both the clinical and managerial sides of the laboratory. The idea is to increase patient safety as specimens are quickly processed, tested and classified. The PathNet solution suite tracks specimens from collection through testing and storage, using bar codes, robotics and instrument interfaces.
In addition to streamlining workflow in the laboratory, the system can reduce turnaround times through automatic verification and reporting, Cerner touts.
VA Hospitals to Deploy Mobile Robotics
The VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network is installing 21 TUGs — autonomous mobile robots — from Pittsburgh-based Aetheon Inc.
The robotics will be installed in eight medical centers, the VA Boston Healthcare System's Roxbury Campus, and the VA Healthcare System of Ohio's Chalmers P. Wylie Veterans Clinic in Columbus.
TUG is a hospital asset utilization solution that roams autonomously throughout hospitals, tracking and delivering goods and supplies from point-to-point. The company says that by assigning pharmacy, laboratory and materials management tasks to the TUGs, the hospitals will free up nursing staff.
