This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

Everyday Health, operator of a consumer-oriented health information website, has acquired online medical news service MedPage Today…Stanley Black & Decker will acquire InfoLogix, an enterprise mobility and wireless asset tracking applications provider, for $61.2 million.
WebPT, a provider of EHR systems for physical therapists, recently completed a Series A funding round totaling $1 million in private equity funding.

Contracts

The University of Washington Medicine will expand use of Microsoft's data aggregation platform…Central Baptist Hospital in Kentucky has selected interactive patient education and entertainment applications from TeleHealth Services…the Beacon Community of the Inland Northwest serving eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and Genesis Health System of Iowa and Illinois have chosen health information exchange software from Orion Health; the Alaska eHealth Network has selected Orion Health as its primary IT provider…Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Nebraska has selected an emergency department information system from T-System…GuildNet, a managed long-term care program in New York, has selected American Medical Alert's medication management system...Pennsylvania-based Wills Eye Health System has selected EHR and practice management systems from NextGen Healthcare Information Systems.
Elliot Health System in New Hampshire has implemented health IT applications from EMC…Ponce School of Medicine Regional Extension Center in Puerto Rico has named NCG Medical Systems as a preferred EHR vendor…Moses Cone Health System in North Carolina has selected cloud computing software from Proficient Health…Dallas-based CHRISTUS Health has selected health information exchange technology from Medicity to drive infrastructure development across Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Utah and Texas…Georgia-based Health Plan Select has chosen an ITA Partners' oncology decision-support platform…Cleveland Clinic has chosen coding technology from 3M Health Information Systems…Washington Radiology Associates has selected authentication technology from DigitalPersona.
Crystal Cruises will implement an EHR system from Emergisoft, the first EHR system designed for cruise ships…South Florida Regional Extension Center has named Sage Healthcare as a preferred vendor…St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Louisiana has chosen RelayHealth to help build its health information exchange…Colorado Regional Extension Center announced its list of 14 preferred EHR vendors…the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has chosen a patient management platform from Upp Technology…the Department of Veterans Affairs has selected CSC for a $33 million contract to provide software development services...Vantage HGT Regional Health Information Organization, an information exchange for western Pennsylvania, has selected Verizon's health information exchange technology.

Product Development and Marketing

Cymetrix, a provider of revenue cycle management applications for health care organizations, has partnered with Siemens Healthcare to provide Siemens clients with financial system conversion support…WellDoc has integrated its diabetes management platform with AllScripts' EHR system…CDW Healthcare has partnered with Greenway Medical Technologies on a comprehensive EHR system.

Personnel

Melissa Rutala -- associate director of the Arizona Health-e Connection -- has been named the group's CEO…Daniel Wisniewski -- former CIO of home medical care provider CCS Medical -- has been named senior vice president, business operations of CardioNet, a provider of wireless medical technology…the Certification Commission for Health IT has appointed three new members to its board of trustees: Richard Campanelli, director of government relations for health and human services for Washington operations of Lockheed Martin; John Derr, senior vice president and chief technology strategic officer at Golden Living, a health care provider for elderly individuals; and Andrew Wiesenthal of Deloitte Consulting; in addition to 11 commissioners.
Greg Wingrove -- former vice president of corporate accounts, Ortho Americas, for Smith & Nephew, an R&D firm for orthopedics and wound management -- has been named vice president of corporate accounts for RF Technologies…Doug Duskin -- former CFO of Brambles Industries' document management division Recall North America -- has been named CFO of Outcomes Health Information Solutions...Marc Holland -- former president of Systems Research Services, a health IT market research company -- has been named vice president, market research of HIMSS Analytics...David Robinson -- executive adviser for health IT company athenahealth -- has been named to the company's board of directors.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/12/17/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-december-17-2010.aspx#ixzz18sg5th1z

This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions will acquire hospital software provider Pharmacy OneSource for an undisclosed sum...Technology staffing and clinical data management consulting firm Eliassen Group has acquired the IT staffing division of Dextrys, a provider of product engineering and application services outsourcing...SXC Health Solutions will buy pharmacy benefit manager MedfusionRX for $100 million in cash, as well as $5.5 million in potential incentive payments...MD On-Line, a provider of electronic data exchange applications, has purchased Healthware Solutions, an EHR developer, for an undisclosed amount...medical content vendor Thomson Reuters has acquired bioinformatics data analysis firm GeneGo for an undisclosed amount.
Health IT company MedLink has closed an aggregate of $2.25 million in financing through a $1 million private placement and a sale of $1.25 million in capital from investment banker Aegis Capital…JMI Equity, a private equity and venture capital firm, has raised $875 million for a new fund targeting the health IT industry.

Contracts

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center has selected DR Systems' cloud-based radiology imaging technology...Continuum Health Alliance will use integrated lab orders management from Ignis Systems for EHR application services...North Sunflower Medical Center in Mississippi will deploy IT services from McKesson...University Radiology Group in New Jersey has selected MedInformatix's radiology information system...the eHealthConnecticut REC has selected 41 preferred ambulatory EHR providers.
Minnesota health plan UCare has selected cloud-computing applications from ikaSystems...the Department of Veterans Affairs has selected Picis' anesthesia record keeping system for a 42-hospital regional network...Apple Valley Medical Clinic in Minnesota has selected e-MDs as its preferred EHR vendor…the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has awarded Outcome Sciences a contract for designing and developing a new patient registry database...Toronto-based Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has selected Telus' personal health record portal.
Advance Technological Radiology, Clinical Radiologists, Medical Imaging Northwest and Touch Stone Medical Imaging have selected software provider iNTERFACEWARE for health data exchange…the Central Florida Health IT Initiative has selected athenahealth as its preferred EHR provider…Northwest Primary Care in Oregon has selected a PACS from Sage Healthcare Division...Ear, Nose and Throat Associates of South Florida has chosen a revenue cycle management system and self-service offerings from PatientPoint...Kentucky-based Norton Healthcare has selected Microsoft software for its accountable care organization initiative.

Product Development and Marketing

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Accredited Standards Committee X12  to collaborate on services to enhance the implementation of electronic data exchange...Massachusetts-based Brigham and Women's Hospital is partnering with GNS Healthcare to leverage their computer systems to identify predictive patient outcomes for asthma therapies...clinical information systems provider Net Health Systems is incorporating M*Modal's speech-recognition technology into its WoundExpert software.
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems will produce a universal medical image integration module with imaging and informatics company Sclmage...Agilent Technologies, an electronics and communications company, and GeneGo have introduced a new data analysis suite...VRI, an in-home health monitoring systems provider, is partnering with health management provider SeniorBridge to combine remote vital sign monitoring with oversight from geriatric professionals...Patient Access Solutions and health IT consulting firm iMedicor have partnered with the New Jersey Health IT Extension Center to collaborate on the center's efforts to promote meaningful use of EHRs.
CareFusion will resell medication management technologies from PHACTS…Quest International, a supply chain services company, has partnered with Carestream Health to augment services for e-health and mammography systems…Tx Xchange and PureRXO have partnered to develop and market integrated telehealth and e-commerce products for health, wellness and fitness providers…health IT company American Well has teamed with IBM to embed security measures into American Well's Online Care system...TRS Institute, provider of online medical transcription and speech recognition training programs, has partnered with ScribeAmerica, a medical scribe training and management services provider, to develop online self-training programs for medical scribes.
Health care coding, compliance and reimbursement services provider Alpha II has partnered with First Medical Solutions to enhance accuracy and decision-making in revenue cycle management at ambulatory facilities…Dossia, a PHR platform provider, has integrated its product with Healthcare Blue Book, an online health care pricing information provider, to provide users with access to and control over health data and pricing comparison tools…Baxter Healthcare will integrate the SIGMA Spectrum Infusion System into Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare's EHR system…patient check-in applications provider Phreesia has entered into a five-year partnership with global payments provider Elavon to offer Phreesia's automated patient check-in solution to U.S. health care customers and task Elavon with payment processing responsibilities.

Personnel

Phreesia has named Mark O'Leary -- who held senior executive leadership positions at TSYS Healthcare and UnitedHealth Group -- as chief marketing officer and Gilbert Benghiat -- formerly of LeapFrogRx, a provider of business intelligence software for the pharmaceutical industry -- as vice president of engineering...Derek Baird -- director of North American sales at Health Language, a medical terminology management company -- has been promoted to vice president of sales, provider solutions...Consumer Health Technologies, a provider of health care benefit administration platforms, has named Jay Martinson -- former COO and executive vice president at Medicare administrative services company Noridian Administrative Services -- as president and David Smith -- former vice president of sales at health care business intelligence company Foresight -- as senior vice president of sales and marketing.
Health IT services company Cognosante has named Michele Romeo, former CIO at the New Jersey Department of Human Services, as director for its health insurance exchange and Elizabeth Place, consultant and business development executive, as director of technical support...James Sullivan -- former senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of the TriZetto Group -- has been named executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Quality Systems, a developer of health IT products…Kenneth Barr -- former mayor of Fort Worth, Texas -- has joined the board of directors of Sandlot, a health care IT company.
Paul Reynard -- former vice president of sales operations and marketing for ArjoHuntleigh, a provider of health care equipment -- has been named senior vice president-sales and service at RF Technologies, a provider of RFID monitoring systems and health care security applications...Linda Kloss -- former CEO of the American Health Information Management Association -- has been named chair of clinical informatics company Humedica…Herbert Roberts -- former CEO, president and CFO of media and entertainment company Juniper Content -- has been named senior vice president and CFO of DrFirst, an ambulatory and acute care services provider.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/12/3/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-december-3-2010.aspx#ixzz17dAk7foL

Black Book Rankings-Top EMR Vendors for 2011

November 29, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

 

 NEW YORK – A survey by Black Book Rankings, a division of the market research firm Brown-Wilson Group, ranks the top EMR vendors for 2011 based on key performance indicators including meaningful use.
The rankings include the top 20 vendors in 10 categories including acute care/hospital, emergency and physician groups, which are broken down by size.
The rankings are a result of a four month poll, conducted by Black Book, that surveyed more than 30,000 healthcare records professionals, physician practice administrators and hospital leaders in the information technology arenas.
Black Book Rankings employs 18 key performance indicators, including ARRA stimulus support, implementation, cost and meaningful use.
"Each physician practice and hospital has unique needs to consider when selecting the right electronic medical record software company," said Kevin Parker, MD, Black Book's EMR research director. "There's a big field of competitors and a short window of opportunity to maximize stimulus funding. Objective, independent data for EMR decision makers has been difficult to find. Black Book's 2011 survey results are a statement of proficiency that these top EMR vendors have the documented user satisfaction outcomes to demonstrate exceptional implementations, compliance and service levels."

TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – SINGLE PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * Abraxas Medical Solutions
    * AmazingCharts.com
    * Aprima Medical Software
    * Business Computer Applications
    * Connexin Software
    * eClinicalWorks
    * Eclipsys
    * Greenway Medical Technologies
    * Health IT Services Group
    * Henry Schein Medical Systems
    * MDTablet
    * Medical Software Technology
    * MedNet System
    * NextGen Healthcare
    * Nuesoft
    * Point and Click Solutions
    * Pulse Systems
    * Sage
    * SOAPware
    * StreamlineMD


TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – TWO-FIVE PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * ABEL Medical Software
    * Abraxas Medical Solutions
    * Acrendo
    * Advanced Data Systems
    * Allscripts
    * AmazingCharts.com Inc
    * Aprima Medical Software
    * eClinicalWorks
    * e-MDs
    * GE
    * Greenway Medical Technologies
    * Healthland
    * HealthPort
    * Intivia
    * McKesson
    * Medflow
    * NextGen Healthcare
    * Praxis
    * Secure Infosys
    * SOAPware




TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – SIX-25 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * Allscripts
    * Aprima Medical Software
    * Cerner
    * ChartLogic
    * CureMed MD
    * eClinicalWorks
    * e-MDs
    * GE Healthcare
    * gloStream
    * Greenway Medical Technologies
    * McKesson
    * Medappz
    * Medflow
    * Meditab
    * meridian EMR
    * NexTech
    * NextGen Healthcare
    * OmniMD
    * Sequel Systems
    * SOAPware

 
TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – 26-99 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * Abraxas Medical Solutions
    * Aprima Medical Software
    * athenahealth
    * BizMatics
    * eClinicalWorks
    * Epic Systems Corporation
    * Greenway Medical Technologies
    * iSALUS
    * LSS Data Systems
    * Management Plus
    * McKesson
    * MedConnect
    * Meridian
    * NextGen Healthcare
    * Nightingale
    * Pulse Systems
    * Sage
    * Sequel Systems
    * SSIMED
    * SuiteMed


TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – 100-249 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * Abraxas Medical Solutions
    * AllMeds
    * athenahealth
    * BizMatics
    * Cerner
    * Eclipsys
    * Epic Systems Corporation
    * GE Healthcare
    * Ingenix
    * iSALUS
    * LSS Data Systems
    * McKesson
    * MedInformatix
    * Nightingale Informatix Corporation
    * Noteworthy Medical Systems
    * Prime Clinical Systems
    * Sage
    * Sequel Systems
    * SuccessEHS
    * SuiteMed




TOP RANKED AMBULATORY EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – 250+ PHYSICIAN PRACTICE:
    * Abraxas Medical Solutions
    * Allscripts Professional
    * Allscripts
    * BizMatics
    * Cerner
    * CureMD
    * Eclipsys
    * Epic Systems Corporation
    * GE Healthcare
    * Ingenix
    * Integritas
    * iSALUS
    * KeyMedical
    * LSS Data Systems
    * MED 3000
    * NextGen Healthcare
    * Practice Partner/Practice Complete
    * Sage
    * SuiteMed
    * Universal EMR




TOP RANKED EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS:
    * Allscripts
    * Cerner
    * CMR
    * Emergisoft
    * Epic
    * Forerun
    * LOGICARE
    * Pro-Med
    * Wellsoft
    * Allscripts
    * Eclipsys
    * EDIMS
    * EmpowER Systems
    * McKesson
    * MEDHOST
    * MEDITECH MAGIC
    * MEDITECH
    * Picis/Ingenix
    * Poseidon Group
    * T-System


TOP RANKED ACUTE CARE EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – SMALL HOSPITALS (FEWER THAN 100 BEDS):
    * Allscripts
    * Cerner
    * CMR
    * Emergisoft
    * Epic
    * Forerun
    * LOGICARE
    * Pro-Med
    * Wellsoft
    * Allscripts
    * Eclipsys
    * EDIMS
    * EmpowER Systems
    * McKesson
    * MEDHOST
    * MEDITECH
    * MEDITECH MAGIC
    * Picis/Ingenix
    * Poseidon Group
    * T-System

TOP RANKED ACUTE CARE EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – COMMUNITY HOSPITALS (101-250 BEDS):
    * Cerner
    * CPSI
    * Dell
    * Eclipsys
    * Epic
    * Epic
    * GE
    * GE
    * Keane
    * McKesson
    * Medsphere
    * MEDITECH
    * MEDITECH
    * Microsoft
    * Next Gen
    * Prognosis HIS
    * QuadraMed
    * Siemens
    * Siemens
    * SOWSIA

TOP RANKED ACUTE CARE EMR SOFTWARE VENDORS – LARGE MEDICAL CENTERS/HOSPITALS (MORE THAN 250 BEDS):
    * Cerner
    * CPSI
    * Dell
    * Eclipsys
    * Epic
    * GE
    * Keane
    * McKesson
    * Medsphere
    * MEDITECH
    * Microsoft
    * Next Gen
    * Prognosis HIS
    * QuadraMed
    * Siemens
    * SOWSIA

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This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

Health & Safety Institute, an emergency response training company, has purchased smart phone application developer GoToAID for an undisclosed amount…Interactive Technology Solutions, a health care consulting firm, has acquired Peace Technology, a developer of website applications, for an undisclosed amount...Epocrates, a developer of clinical information and decision support tools, has acquired Modality, a smart phone medical reference applications publisher, for $13.8 million...German health IT company CompuGroup Medical will acquire the revenue cycle management, physician practice management and ambulatory EHR business lines of HealthPort for $18 million.

The mHealthAlliance recently received a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to use mobile technology to improve health in developing countries...Prognosis Health Information Systems, a community and rural hospital software vendor, has received an unknown minority investment led by equity firm OpenViewPartners.

Contracts

JPS Health Network in Texas has selected TriZetto Group's automated administrative program…CDC selected CIBER, a global IT consulting and outsourcing company, to provide services under the CDC Information Management Services program…CMS has given an estimated $230 million contract to CSC to migrate key IT systems to a new service-oriented architecture...Highmark Medicare Services, an administrative services provider to Medicare, has selected Companion Data Services to provide IT support for a national health care reimbursement system…the Military Health System has selected Vangent, an IT consultant and systems integrator, to enhance an EHR system tool; Vangent also will help deploy health information systems for the Indian Health Service.

Texas Professional Healthcare Alliance has selected an Allscripts' EHR system, offered by Veridian Strategies; SA Health, the public health system of South Australia, selected Allscripts as a preferred vendor…Pennsylvania's two regional extension centers, PA REACH East and PA REACH West, have selected eClinicalWorks, Greenway Medical Technologies and Sage Healthcare as preferred vendors; the Ohio Health Information Partnership, a regional extension center, has selected Allscripts, eClinicalWorks, e-MDs, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems and Sage Healthcare as preferred EHR vendors; Florida-based Baptist Health Care also has selected ambulatory EHR and practice management systems from NextGen.

San Juan Regional Medical Center in New Mexico, Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in Wisconsin have selected a content management system from CareTech Solutions…HHS has selected federal technology contractor Aquilent to provide services for the agency's Web communications and new-media division…Ulrich Medical Concepts has chosen patient portal software from Intuit Health…North York General Hospital in Canada has chosen clinical decision support software from Zynx Health...West Penn Allegheny Health System in Pennsylvania has selected athenahealth's Web-based revenue cycle management service.

Product Development and Marketing

Ceridian Exchange Systems and eHealth will participate in a winning bid to implement the Florida Health Choices online health insurance exchange...BridgeFront, an online education firm, will partner with Oregon's regional extension center OCHIN/O-HITEC to develop online courses about "meaningful use" standards…the Emergency Nurses Association and McKesson have formed the ED Benchmarks Collaborative, a database allowing hospitals to identify ED trends and compare performance.

IBM and ActiveHealth Management, a subsidiary of Aetna, will partner to provide cloud-based care management services to health care providers in Puerto Rico...TriZetto Group has entered into a strategic partnership with clinical analytics developer MEDai to enhance its care management and value-based applications for members...3M Health Information Systems, a health care software and consulting company, is partnering with IQMax, a health care mobile technology services provider, to develop mobile applications for physician use.

Personnel

Anil Jain -- senior IT executive and managing director of e-Research at the Cleveland Clinic -- has been named CMO of Explorys, a cloud computing software provider…Michael Kamerick -- director of academic research and IT systems at the University of California-San Francisco -- has been named senior director of health systems solutions of Recombinant Data, a health care data warehousing and clinical intelligence services provider…Rick Dean -- former director of North American sales for Microsoft's Health Solutions Group -- has been named vice president of provider sales of Humedica, a clinical informatics company...Karl Wolcott, a sales and marketing executive, has been named vice president of sales and marketing for health IT company iTech Medical.

Brenda Jenkins -- a senior program administrator at Quality Partners of Rhode Island, a health care quality improvement company -- has been selected as a member of the Health IT Competency Task Force under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT...The Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of the CIO has named Stan Lowe as IT ombudsman at the Veterans Benefits Administration, Chuck Hume as IT ombudsman at the Veterans Health Administration and Jackie Patillo as IT ombudsman at VA headquarters.
Kevin Hutchinson, president and CEO of e-prescribing and care communication services provider Prematics, has been named to the board of directors at health care interoperability services provider dbMotion...Physicians Interactive Holdings, a provider of clinical decision support tools, has named Brett Miller, former chief marketing officer of online trading network FX Solutions, as president of PIH's mobile division, Skyscape; Sandeep Shah, chief innovation officer, as chief content officer; and Marlene Galante, a marketing professional, as general manager of academic centers, associations and centers of professional excellence.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/11/19/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-november-19-2010.aspx#ixzz16DTVmuzQ

Featured Healthcare IT News!

Verizon to assist health info exchange
November 17, 2010
Mike Miliard, Managing Editor

BASKING RIDGE, NJ – As it seeks to increase electronic health data sharing, Verizon will begin in January to issue free medical identity credentials to 2.3 million U.S. physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

The first-of-its kind step will help healthcare professionals meet federal requirements put forth in the HITECH Act that call for the use of strong identity credentials when accessing and sharing patient information electronically beginning in mid-2011.

With these strong identity credentials, U.S. providers will be able to receive digital health information via the Verizon Medical Data Exchange, using a secure, private inbox accessed from a new Web-based physician portal, the Healthcare Provider Portal. These multi-factored credentials will be designed to meet the Level 3 authentication requirements created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal agency that works with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.

In addition, these credentials will be able to be used to universally access healthcare IT applications and platforms, such as electronic medical records, e-prescribing services and health information exchanges, including the Verizon Health Information Exchange, which serves as a central repository for patient information and upon request pulls a patient's history from disparate sources.

Currently, there is no universal means of issuing multi-factored credentials to U.S. healthcare professionals for use in accessing any healthcare system, database or application.

"For years, the U.S. has been talking about the concept of digitally sharing health information and we are now on the cusp of making this a reality," said Peter Tippett, vice president, innovation and technology at Verizon Business. "Verizon is lowering the barriers to compliance and adoption by providing healthcare professionals with a universal means to access virtually any system, anytime, anywhere. We believe this is a significant step forward for health IT."

The Verizon Medical Data Exchange – a fully interoperable and open standards-based platform – enables physicians nationwide to overcome traditional barriers to e-health adoption, including compliance, usability and the investment required to change existing IT systems or purchase new equipment or software. The platform enables a range of providers – from large health systems to rural hospitals to small physician practices – to securely and privately receive and send digital records, such as dictated physician notes, X-rays, medical images and lab results, by linking disparate IT systems and applications.

The Verizon Medical Data Exchange is designed to meet meaningful-use requirements for health data sharing established under the 2009 HITECH Act. These requirements are a set of interoperability standards, implementation specifications and certification programs intended to certify electronic health record technology to enable clinicians to better coordinate care and reduce administrative costs.

"Verizon's issuance of medical identity credentials to U.S. healthcare professionals promises to help solve many of the information technology challenges faced by providers and facilitate the secure exchange of health information among credentialed healthcare professionals," said Joseph Ternullo, associate director of the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners Healthcare in Boston. "Verizon is creating a clear path toward meeting federal requirements for the use of strong identity credentials."

This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

Merge Healthcare, a medical imaging software vendor, has acquired the laboratory information systems assets of Fletcher-Flora Health Care Systems for an undisclosed sum; Merge also posted Q3 2010 revenue of $45.2 million, up from $16.9 million in revenue in Q3 2009; Merge also completed the exchange offer of its 11.75% senior secured notes due 2015.
Health IT services provider MedLink has acquired the assets of EHR and practice management software provider MedAppz for an undisclosed sum…ConJoin Group, an IT and business-processing outsourcing company, has acquired PHNS, a provider of outsourced health IT services, for $250 million…Blackstone Technology Group, an IT firm, will acquire Quinnian Health, a  telemedicine startup, for an undisclosed sum...CardioNet, a vendor of wireless heart monitoring technology, will acquire Biotel, a vendor of wireless event recorder devices, for $11 million.
Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions reported a Q3 2010 profit of $1.4 million on $242.2 million in revenue, down from a $12.9 million profit on $164.9 million in revenue in Q3 2009...Shareable Ink, a provider of digital pen and paper health care applications, has closed a $4.5 million Series A Preferred financing round with health care investors including Founder Collective, Heritage Group, The Martin Companies, Nashville Capital Network and Chip Linehan of New Enterprise Associates…DICOM Grid, a health IT platform operator, has raised $7.5 million in a round of financing through investment firms Canaan Partners Healthcare, CHL Medical Partners and Chronic Health Capital…The mHealth Alliance announced a two-year, $1 million aggregate donation from Hewlett-Packard.

Contracts

Mercy Memorial Hospital System in Michigan has selected Allscripts as its health IT provider…the U.S. Army has granted Diversinet a five-year contract to support expansion of the Army's mCare telehealth outreach program…Community Memorial Health System in California has selected clinical and documentation software from PatientKeeper…University of Utah Health Care has selected patient transfer technology from TeleTracking…OhioHealth has selected a telestroke application from REACH Call.
Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona has selected InterSystems' integration and development platform… Sage North America's Sage Healthcare Division practice management and EHR systems were selected by Children's Heart Center in Nevada, Green Clinic in Louisiana, Nebraska Spine Center, Nevada Imaging Center, Saint Louis ConnectCare and Oncology Specialties in Alabama…CDC has chosen Accenture for a 10-year Information Management Services contract requiring a range of IT services for the agency's global public health initiatives.
The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, a not-for-profit medical group in Minnesota and Wisconsin, has selected Nuance Communications' clinical decision support technology…Virginia Commonwealth University Health System's Department of Pathology Laboratories has selected integrated health record systems from 4medica...MED Trends has selected communications and IT company Harris for a follow-on contract to continue developing patient registries for the Veterans Health Administration.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has selected a mental health EHR system from DSS…HealthPoint Medical Group in Florida has chosen an EHR system from McKesson…the Texas Hospital Association has designated American Medical Alert as a preferred provider of call center services…Minnesota-based Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare has selected context management and clinical workflow applications from Carefx and Indigo Identityware...Houston-based Methodist Hospital System  has selected patient experience software from MEDSEEK.

Product Development and Marketing

Telecommunications company Telus and Microsoft have launched an online platform aimed at providing Canadians with access to and management of their electronic health information…CardioNet and MedApps will partner to advance their products in the mobile wireless medical market...CodeRyte will bring its coding technology to Advanced Data Systems and its radiology clients.
Epocrates has partnered with Covisint to allow eligible professionals to access the DocSite PQRI registry…VRI, a provider of in-home health monitoring programs, has partnered with telehealth company Robert Bosch Healthcare to jointly offer services… Swisslog will integrate its pharmacy automation systems with drug distributor Cardinal Health...Health insurer Cigna is making its cost service estimate software available through the clearinghouses of Availity, NaviNet, Passport Health and RealMed.

Personnel

Robert Goodman -- former board chair, CEO and president of medical communications company Informed Medical Communications -- has been named president of DiagnosisONE, a clinical decision support and analytics company…Paul Reynard -- former vice president of sales operations and marketing for ArjoHuntleigh, a health IT company -- has been named senior vice president of sales and service for RF Technologies.
Interbit Data, a health care software provider, promoted three management team members to executive positions: Edward Norton has been named senior vice president and COO; Oscar Beninati has been named vice president of sales and marketing; and Brian Main has been named vice president of technology...Health IT company Informatics Corporation of America has named John Tempesco -- former vice president of client services and marketing at ICA -- chief marketing officer; Brian Higdon -- former president of software company Paskr -- vice president of client services and marketing; and Sandra Lillie -- former vice president of strategic accounts at TeraMedica Healthcare Technology -- vice president of sales and business development.
Victor Dorodny, a health IT physician-executive, has been named CMO and global practice leader at US Tele-Medicine, a telehealth services provider...Gai Elhanan, a computer science professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, has been named CMIO of Halfpenny Technologies, a provider of clinical data exchange software...Jeffery Surges, former president of sales at Allscripts, has been named CEO of Merge Healthcare.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/11/12/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-november-12-2010.aspx#ixzz15ZyfJaq0

This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

McKesson will acquire oncology management provider U.S. Oncology for approximately $2.16 billion…Huron Consulting Group has acquired Click Commerce, a vendor of Web portals for academic medical centers, for an undisclosed sum.
athenahealth reported a Q3 2010 profit of $3.8 million on $63.1 million in revenue…Cerner reported a Q3 2010 profit of $60.9 million on $462.7 million in revenue, up from a $48.4 million profit on $409.4 million in revenue in Q3 2009...CareFusion, a vendor of infection control management software, reported a Q1 2011 profit of $38 million on $908 million in revenue...Hospital information systems provider Computer Programs and Systems reported a Q3 2010 profit of $4.9 million on $40.9 million in revenue...Mediware Information Systems, a provider of health care-related management software, reported a Q1 2011 profit of $1.1 million on $12.5 million in revenue.

Contracts

Holy Cross Hospital in New Mexico has selected EHR and medical billing services from athenahealth…the San Francisco Department of Public Health has selected eClinicalWorks' EHR and practice management systems…HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley has chosen REACH3's customer relationship management software…Eastern Maine Medical Center has deployed the iMedConsent application from Dialog Medical…ACT Health Management Services has chosen NextGen Healthcare Information Systems' ambulatory EHR and practice management systems...the Medical Society of Delaware has chosen RelayHealth's physician practice management services.
The Georgia Health IT Regional Extension Center has named eClinicalWorks, e-MDs, Greenway Medical Technologies, Medical Informatics Engineering and NextGen as preferred EHR vendors…Fairview Health Services, a not-for-profit health system in Minnesota, has selected a human resource management suite from Lawson Human Capital Management System…Hospital Auxilio Mutuo in Puerto Rico has chosen a hospital information system from McKesson; the Medical Society of Delaware has selected McKesson's RelayHealth unit's PHR and clinical messaging systems…Middle Tennessee eHealth Connect, Nashville's health information exchange, will use a data exchange platform from CareAlign.

Product Development and Marketing

Software developer Status Solutions and wireless health and safety monitoring system provider AFrame Digital have partnered to expand remote patient monitoring systems…Health insurer Cigna has chosen Usablenet to let users of Cigna's website search for medical facilities and find prescription information…iSoftStone IT will introduce Microsoft HealthVault technology to the Chinese market...NextGen will offer InstaMed's health care payments platform for health care providers.

Personnel

Mark Guinan -- chief procurement officer for Johnson & Johnson -- has been named senior vice president and CFO of Hill-Rom, a medical technologies manufacturer…Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, has joined the partnership board of mHealth Alliance, a provider of wireless health care systems for underserved communities.
The Missouri Health Information Organization, which is developing a statewide health information exchange, has named Sandra Johnson -- interim dean and professor emerita of law and health care ethics of Saint Louis University School of Law -- as chair of the board of directors; David Weiss -- senior vice president and CIO of BJC Healthcare -- as vice chair; Tracy Godfrey -- a family physician at Family Health Center -- as treasurer; and Steve Roling -- president and CEO of Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City -- as secretary.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/11/5/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-november-5-2010.aspx#ixzz14udHhzEv

This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

Interactive Technology Solutions, a management and IT consulting company, has acquired the IT services business of NetStar-1 Holdings, a provider of management consulting services, for an undisclosed amount...Computer Task Group, an IT firm, reported a Q3 2010 profit of $2 million on $84.5 million in revenue, up from a $1.6 million profit on $66.8 million in revenue in Q3 2009.

Contracts

The Department of Veterans Affairs has selected CACI International for a five-year, $91 million contract to generate a record-sharing system for the agency's Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program…CDC has chosen Business Computer Applications for a 10-year, $3 billion contract for its Information Management Services area…Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York has chosen Allscripts' care management software; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in New York has selected Allscripts' EHR system for its 16 medical groups…MDAdvantage Insurance Company of New Jersey has extended its contract with digiChart, a health care IT services provider.
The Medical Society of the State of New York has designated athenahealth as a preferred EHR vendor...Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has selected Siemens Medical Solutions USA for a five-year, $25 million contract to provide medical imaging equipment and health IT consulting services…American Medical Software has selected Intuit's patient portal application…Methodist Hospital in Houston has chosen Dell Services to help launch an EHR system and coordinate and streamline clinical care delivery…the North Carolina TeleHealth Network has selected MCNC, a not-for-profit communications technologies provider, to establish broadband connectivity to health care sites across the state.
PinnacleHealth System in Pennsylvania has selected electronic documentation  provider Salar to provide health services to two hospitals in the health system…the Tri-State Regional Extension Center based in Cincinnati has recommended EHRs from Allscripts, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, GE Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare Information Systems...Massachusetts-based Northeast Hospital Corp. will deploy PACS from Merge Healthcare.

Product Development and Marketing

Kodak has partnered with MMRGlobal to help physician offices and similar small practices digitize patient records...VitalHealth has partnered with Mayo Medical Laboratories to offer an EHR product linked with Mayo's outreach offering…Vanguard Communications has partnered with Intuit Health to give consumers Internet-based portals for conducting business directly on physicians' websites…Surescripts, an electronic prescribing network, will offer its vendors functionality and services from Kryptiq, a provider of Internet-based secure messaging services…Palomar Pomerado Health in California will develop medication and supply management technologies with CareFusion.
NetCare Administrators has partnered with contractor SoftCare EC Solutions to design and expand NetCare's health IT systems…Practice Fusion's Research Division has entered into a partnership with Microsoft to establish no-cost, de-identified health information for researchers…Health e Practice Solutions will integrate Ignis' EHR lab connectivity tool into its hosted EHR system…Health Access Solutions has partnered with the California Association of Physician Groups to deploy Health Access' multidisciplinary care coordination platform.

Personnel

Angie Franks -- former senior vice president of sales and market development for health care software company Heartland -- has been named president and CEO of Heartland.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/10/29/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-october-29-2010.aspx#ixzz14FeE4SFH

This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding
Roche Diagnostics will acquire assets related to Medical Automation Systems' point-of-care technology connectivity system…Management Health Solutions, a health IT software provider, has acquired Hospital Inventories Specialists, a provider of inventory management programs, for an undisclosed sum...Xerox's Affiliated Computer Services division has acquired pharmaceutical teleservices company TMS Health from private-equity firm Palm Beach Capital for an undisclosed amount...Greenway Medical Technologies, a developer of EHR software for physician practices, has acquired PACS technology and other assets from VisualMED, an imaging conversion and communications firm, for an undisclosed sum.

Contracts
OB/GYN Women Specialists of Georgia has selected an EHR and practice management system from Waiting Room Solutions…the U.S. Department of Defense has selected health care revenue and payment cycle management software provider Emdeon, along with CSC, to provide health IT services on behalf of the agency's Pharmacy Data Transaction Service; DOD also has entered into a contract with Carestream Health, a provider of imaging and health IT applications, to allow the agency to order PACS...U.S. Tele-Medicine, a telehealth services provider, has selected a telehealth device from Intel for its chronic care management programs.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has chosen consulting and business process services firm Vangent for work on several health IT initiatives...HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation has selected Thomson Reuters to develop a secure, interactive research tool to help researchers perform comparative effectiveness studies…St. Charles Health System in Oregon has selected Allscripts' EHR and practice management applications…Illinois Bone & Joint Institute has selected an EHR system by SRS…CDC has selected CACI International to perform some of its health IT infrastructure work.
North American Medical Management California and MSO of Puerto Rico have selected a clinical software platform from AxSys Technology…Parkview Health System in Indiana has chosen communication technology provider Voalte to manage its wireless communication…Alliance HealthCare Services, a provider of advanced outpatient diagnostic imaging services, and Texas Health Resources have chosen Sy.Med's credentialing software…Rebound Orthopedics in Washington state and Kansas Joint and Spine Institute have selected health IT services from Ancillary Care Solutions, which helps overhaul physical and occupational therapy programs...Saint Francis HealthCare Partners in Connecticut will implement care coordination and population health management technology from Phytel.
The New Jersey Health IT Extension Center has chosen ITelagen's EHR software…Evangelical Community Hospital in Pennsylvania has selected IT applications from Keane…Nebraska Medical Center has subscribed to CapSite's online database of health care technology pricing and packaging…Palmetto Physician Connections, a South Carolina-based patient-centered medical home network, has selected software from MedHOK to secure information exchange and improve care quality and coordination.

Product Development and Marketing
Information services provider Ingenuity Systems has partnered with TransMed Systems, a translational medicine software and services company, to integrate pre-clinical and clinical data with analysis tools…C PORT Solutions has partnered with Rubbermaid Medical Solutions and St. Joseph Hospital's Translational Research Institute to unite communication and collaboration between patient data, medical applications and existing health care technologies.
Health care IT company TriZetto Group has entered into a partnership with Edifecs, a health care interoperability program provider, to help payers meet HIPAA 5010 compliance...AirStrip Technologies, a mobile medical software developer, has partnered with telecommunications company Sprint to work on transmitting health care data to mobile devices of medical professionals.

Personnel
Bart Bernstein -- an Arizona pediatrician -- has been named chief medical information officer at Yuma Regional Medical Center…Christopher Mackie -- former program officer for the Program in Research in IT at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation -- has been named executive vice president and chief innovation officer at health care IT trade association Open Health Tools…Telehealth company Teladoc has named Michael King --- former sales executive at Healthways, a well-being improvement company -- as chief sales officer and Peter Bacon -- former vice president of business alliances at insurer Assurant Health -- as senior vice president of business development.
Timothy Mills -- former senior vice president of provider operations with NaviNet, a health care communications network -- has been named vice president of sales and marketing for revenue cycle management software and services provider Avisena…Eric Rosenfeld -- former senior vice president of IT for the wellness division of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee -- has been named CIO of health IT company DrFirst.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/10/22/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-october-22-2010.aspx#ixzz13aDlNGK8

Planning for tomorrow's EHR

by Patty Enrado, Special Projects Editor and blogger for EHRWatch.com

After reading an article on the five key features of tomorrow's EHR, I wondered how the current EHR products are going to transition to meet the demands of healthcare providers and patients.

In another five years, as EHR adoption grows, we are likely to see consumers wanting their patient data and tests electronically delivered in real time, coordination among their providers, and the ability to conduct many healthcare-related transactions online.
As for the provider community, the next crop of medical school graduates and residents will expect the portability and access of patient data, which will give them greater efficiency and provide them with quality of life through the new model of practicing medicine without walls.

The five key features are things we are seeing in today's market. The users are early adopters of health IT. Mobile computing is definitely emerging already in large health systems such as the University of Kansas hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The concept of delivering safe, quality care anywhere will really resonate with time- and resource-strapped physicians.

Data liquidity via interoperability will have a bigger role in the second and third stages of meaningful use criteria. Every vendor should be working toward meeting this goal, so it's safe to say this is one area that healthcare providers shouldn't have to worry about with regard to their EHR system.

Easy maintenance is another requirement. As the market has heated up in the last two years, I think it's safe to say that the massive EHR implementation with consultants and expensive upgrades and maintenance costs will no longer be tolerated by healthcare providers who are looking for cost-effective solutions. If the EHR vendor has a lot of upgrades and maintenance after the initial implementation, buyer beware. Products have evolved. Expect that from your vendor.

Scalability and the user-friendliness are also two things that one should expect as the norm for even current products. If it can't scale, it's useless to healthcare organizations now. If it isn't intuitive to use, you won't get physician adoption. It's that simple.

The question mark is which products and EHR vendors will meet those demands. How do you know your chosen or implemented EHR system will make that transition seamlessly? It helps if you have a trusted relationship with your vendor.

For those who are getting into the game now, ask a lot of questions. I was at a health IT vendor's user conference a few weeks ago, and I was talking with someone who was working on a statewide HIE initiative. We were trading thoughts about EHRs, and she said she wanted to know why EHRs cost so much. Good question. Will the market demand either drive prices up or the competition bring prices down? Whatever the case, healthcare providers should ask the question to all vendors they are considering.

This week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding 
Vocera Communications, maker of communications programs for hospitals, has acquired Clinical Health Communications and Integrated Voice Solutions for an undisclosed sum...employer- and patient-focused health services provider RedBrick Health has acquired Social Kinetics, a developer of health care improvement platforms, for an undisclosed sum...investment firm Battery Ventures has acquired Data Innovations, a software vendor for clinical and blood labs, for an undisclosed sum.

Contracts
The Health Information Partnership for Tennessee, a partnership of stakeholders seeking to build a health information exchange in the state, has selected Axolotl's Elysium Exchange technology platform...California-based Sansum Clinic has selected drug information and medication decision support from Wolters Kluwer Health...Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems in Missouri has selected an EHR system from Prognosis Health Information Systems...the Utah Department of Health has deployed Identity Resolution from data integration software provider Informatica.

The Individual Practice Association Medical Group of Santa Clara County in California has deployed the Access Express advanced care management platform from Health Access Solutions...Wisconsin-based Ministry Health Care has chosen Phytel's care coordination and population health management system...the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has selected General Dynamics IT to handle health care construction projects for the U.S. Army Medical Department...CDC has selected Science Applications International to help the agency modernize its information management systems...the University of Chicago Medical Center has selected Proventix Systems to improve the center's hand-hygiene quality and compliance monitoring.

Excela Health in Pennsylvania has selected an automated clinical documentation program from Entrada...HHS has selected Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services to continue its IT support for the Medicaid and Medicare programs...eHealth Ontario -- an agency of the Government of Ontario, Canada -- will use software from AxSys Technology to help CGI Group construct a chronic disease management system...St. Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey has selected perioperative software from Merge Healthcare.

Product Development and Marketing
Aprima Medical Software, an EHR and management software developer, has entered into a reseller agreement with eHealth Technologies...AT&T is partnering with WellDoc, a health care technology company, to market and sell WellDoc's mobile health technology in the U.S....NextGen Healthcare, a health care information systems and connectivity provider, has partnered with information management company NextGate to improve health care organizations' ability to combine data from various sources to form a unified health record for each patient.

Nuance Communications, a speech-recognition software provider, has joined with IBM to advance natural language processing technologies to improve evidence-based care...Cerner, an IT product vendor for hospitals, has announced alliances with Ingenix, MedAssets and SearchAmerica to increase its offerings of revenue cycle management technology...MedPlus, a document imaging and managing vendor, has partnered with Hewlett-Packard to market its Care360 EHR system.

Personnel
David Pearah -- former vice president of the e-prescription business unit at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions -- has been named chief technology officer and senior vice president of product management at Emmi Solutions, a provider of online patient management programs...Halfpenny Technologies, a clinical data integration software provider, has named Mitch Fry as executive vice president of business development, Daniel O'Brien as CFO, Roger Newbury as senior vice president of sales and Jim Sheils as vice president of sales.


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/10/15/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-october-15-2010.aspx#ixzz12vbWmSCP