• Allscripts Partners with CoverMyMeds to Help Patients Fill Prescriptions Faster

    Partnership will expand Allscripts eAuth™ software clients’ ability to complete prior authorization for any medication & multiple health plans

     

    CHICAGO, IL – August 19, 2015 — Allscripts and CoverMyMeds have agreed to partner to help patients receive their prescriptions faster and increase the number of health plans available for Allscripts eAuth™ software clients. Allscripts eAuth software enables providers to quickly authorize prescriptions electronically instead of through phone calls or faxes, which can take days or weeks. Performing prior authorization electronically within EHR workflow helps improve efficiencies and reduce costs throughout the prior authorization process.

    Electronic prior authorization (ePA) reduces the cost of authorizing medications prior to dispensation, a significant impact to the U.S. healthcare system. It also improves quality of care by allowing patients to obtain medications faster and reducing the risk that patients don’t receive their prescriptions. With an estimated 150 million prior authorizations completed in the U.S. annually, an electronic solution results in tremendous savings to providers, payers/pharmacy benefit managers and other healthcare stakeholders. The partnership enables multi-payer connectivity and support for the pharmacy-initiated retrospective process.

    CoverMyMeds is the largest ePA platform in the country, providing connectivity that impacts as much as 72% of prescriptions in the U.S. today. It helps physicians, pharmacists and staff complete pre-authorization requests for any drug and all health insurance plans. With more than one million pre-authorization requests submitted each month, CoverMyMeds is the only vendor using the NCPDP ePA standard at scale.

    “We’re honored that Allscripts chose CoverMyMeds to support its vision of a comprehensive ePA product,” said Matt Scantland, Co-Founder of CoverMyMeds. “The partnership is an important milestone for a healthcare system that is increasingly focused on reducing avoidable medical spending due to non-adherence.”

    “The more payers, pharmacy benefit managers and health plans we can connect our provider clients to, the more we can help them reduce the cost associated with prior authorizations– improving patient satisfaction and outcomes,” said Allscripts President, Payer & Life Sciences Business, Faisal Mushtaq. “This long-term partnership provides our clients the capability to transact with a large number of the covered lives in the U.S. for electronic prior authorizations.”

    About CoverMyMeds
    CoverMyMeds is the leader in PA management and one of the fastest growing healthcare technology companies in the US. They help physicians, pharmacists, and their staff complete PA requests for any drug and all health insurance plans. Their technology integrates with pharmacy systems, EHRs, and PBMs to create the most efficient ePA strategy for all participants. With a million PAs submitted each month, CoverMyMeds is the only vendor using the NCPDP ePA standard at scale. For more information, visit www.covermymeds.com.

    Posted 8.21.2015

  • Cerner, CoverMyMeds Integrate to Streamline Electronic Prior Authorization (ePA)

    COLUMBUS, OH & KANSAS CITY, MO – August 20, 2015 — Cerner, a global leader in health care technology, and CoverMyMeds, the nation’s leading electronic prior authorization (ePA) platform, have announced an agreement to integrate CoverMyMeds’ ePA within Cerner’s Millennium® EHR. The advanced functionality will provide more than 350,000 e-prescribing end users the ability to accelerate the prescription review process by removing manual processes and help reduce transaction costs.

    ePA is the process of automating and expediting prior authorization (PA), which is used to determine patient benefit coverage for prescribed medications. The traditional PA process is paper-based and reliant on faxes and phone calls to connect health care professionals. CoverMyMeds will provide Cerner physicians the capability to process requests electronically in seconds and receive notification of a patient’s authorization status within minutes.

    “Integrating CoverMyMeds within Cerner’s EHR provides physicians access to a modern and efficient authorization process with fewer phone calls between doctors and pharmacies. We believe increasing interoperability among pharmacies, prescribers and facility systems will help improve the delivery of health care,” said Kashif Rathore, senior director of interoperability, Cerner.

    According to a 2012 study by the Center for Health Transformation, PA and other medication formulary requirements are significant contributors to the cost of provider interaction with health plans, which exceeds $100 billion annually. The study also showed beyond the health care costs, PA requests can delay patient treatment and result in prescription abandonment.

    “Our mission is to help patients get the medications they need to live healthier lives,” said Matt Scantland, CoverMyMeds Co-Founder. “By adding ePA to the Cerner workflow and supporting near-real-time approvals through our ePA integrations with the largest payers, we turned what used to be an exception process into a decision support tool. The result is doctors can make informed decisions about what medication to prescribe for a patient and send a prescription to the pharmacy confident their patient will receive the medicine they need.”

    CoverMyMeds’ integrated ePA capability will be available to Cerner clients in 2016. More integration details can be found at www.cerner.covermymeds.com.

     

    About CoverMyMeds
    CoverMyMeds is the leader in Electronic Prior Authorization (ePA), and one of the fastest growing healthcare technology companies in the US. Their technology integrates with pharmacy systems, EHRs, and PBMs to create the most efficient ePA strategy for all participants. With millions of ePA requests automated each month, CoverMyMeds is the only vendor using the NCPDP ePA standard at scale. For more information, visit www.covermymeds.com.

    Posted 8.21.2015

  • MEDITECH’s 6.1 Web Acute Selected as Calvert Memorial Hospital’s Roadmap to the Future

    July 27, 2015 — For healthcare organizations, selecting an EHR best suited for staff needs can be a lengthy process, but for Calvert Memorial Hospital (Prince Frederick, MD), selection only took nine months. A MEDITECH customer since 1995, Calvert announced they will be implementing the new 6.1 Web Acute platform.

    In an interview with healthsystemcio.com, Calvert’s VP & CIO Ed Grogan, shared the reasons why the health system ultimately decided on the new MEDITECH, population health being one of them.

    “Right now, every hospital in Maryland with the exception of one, as of this year, is under capitation under one of two plans. And so population health management is very important for us — not only because it’s the right thing to do to help maintain the wellness of our community but also, it’s a requirement for our financial survival and to remain independent,” he said. “We wanted to make sure MEDITECH had a good roadmap for the future, and that’s what we concluded at the end of the selection process.”

    Calvert was also recently recognized by the AHA as a 2015 Most Wired hospital and just made HIMSS Stage 6. Grogan says their goal is to achieve Stage 7 with the new MEDITECH platform.

    Posted 8.19.2015

  • For Third Straight Year Health Catalyst is Named to Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies

    Health Catalyst Ranks No. 713 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 with Three-Year Sales Growth of 629 Percent

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT – August, 19, 2015 — For the third year in a row, Health Catalyst, a leader in healthcare data warehousing, analytics and outcomes improvement, has been named to Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. With sales growth of 629 percent from 2011 to 2014, Health Catalyst ranked No. 713 on the exclusive 2015 Inc. 5000 list, which represents the most comprehensive look at one of the most important segments of the global economy — America’s privately-owned businesses.

    Health Catalyst’s Late-Binding™ Data Warehouse and Analytics platform forms the information foundation for value-based performance at some of the nation’s largest health systems, serving more than 50 million patients overall. The platform can be implemented in a matter of weeks, providing health systems a single source of truth by combining clinical, financial and operational data from electronic health records (EHR) and many other enterprise applications while enabling flexible and fast visualization of the data across all clinical and process domains. Equipped with near real-time data and self-service analytics, health systems can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and identify opportunities for key process improvements.

    “We are honored to be named among the nation’s fastest growing companies, and we attribute our growth to our customers’ success in using Health Catalyst’s analytics platform to systemically improve clinical and financial outcomes,” said Dan Burton, CEO of Health Catalyst. “Enabling this clinical and financial improvement is central to our company’s mission.”

    Health Catalyst’s Inc. 5000 ranking is one of several accolades the company has received this year. The respected healthcare research firm, KLAS, gave Health Catalyst the top score for overall “vendor contributed value” among the healthcare analytics companies profiled in its report, “Healthcare Analytics Performance: The Data Deluge.” Health Catalyst also was identified as a market leader in the IDC MarketScape report, “U.S. Healthcare Provider Clinical and Financial Analytics Standalone Platform Vendor Assessment.” Over the past 12 months, the company has received four “best place to work” awards. Health Catalyst was selected from among 4,000 US companies as one of the 75 best places to work for Millennial employees in America, and for the second year in a row, Health Catalyst was recognized nationally by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 best places to work in healthcare. In addition, Becker’s Hospital Review recognized Health Catalyst as one of the 150 best places to work in healthcare, and the Salt Lake Tribune ranked the company the No. 1 best place to work in the greater Salt Lake City region in the mid-sized company category. Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton and Co-Founders Steve Barlow and Tom Burton also won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 Award, in the technology category of the Utah Region.

    The 2015 Inc. 5000 is the most competitive crop in the list’s history with an aggregate revenue of $205 billion, and has generated 647,000 jobs over the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

    “The story of this year’s Inc. 5000 is the story of great leadership. In an incredibly competitive business landscape, it takes something extraordinary to take your company to the top,” says Inc. President and Editor-In-Chief Eric Schurenberg. “You have to remember that the average company on the Inc. 5000 grew nearly six-fold since 2012. Business owners don’t achieve that kind of success by accident.”

    About Health Catalyst
    Health Catalyst is a mission-driven data warehousing, analytics and outcomes-improvement company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes perform the clinical, financial, and operational reporting and analysis needed for population health and accountable care. Their proven enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and analytics platform helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs in support of more than 50 million patients for organizations ranging from the largest US health system to forward-thinking physician practices. For more information, visit www.healthcatalyst.com, and follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

    Posted 8.19.2015

  • Merge Healthcare Named a Leading Vendor in KLAS 2015 Midterm Performance Review

    Delivering on its commitment to client success, Merge is positioned as a front-runner in imaging solutions

    Chicago, IL – 19 Aug 2015 —Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ: MRGE), a leading provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to transform healthcare, was recently recognized as a top vendor in the KLAS 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software & Services report. Merge Healthcare ranked second in the Software Performance by Vendor category, receiving an overall score of 81.9.

    “At Merge, our dedication to helping clients move their quality of care forward is at the foundation of what we do, and being recognized by KLAS is a testament to that commitment,” said Justin Dearborn, chief executive officer of Merge Healthcare. “We strive to deliver products that exceed our clients’ evolving needs so they are best prepared for success now and in the future. It is exciting to see our efforts translating into tangible achievements such as this.”

    Bob Schallhorn, senior vice president of solutions management at Merge Healthcare, added, “Over the past 18 months, Merge has been quite successful in expanding its footprint in the market. In 2014, Merge’s iConnect® Enterprise Archive had its best year of the past five and Merge Cardio experienced tremendous growth, as well. This latest KLAS report is further proof that Merge’s continued focus on client success and quality of patient care is resulting in improved KLAS rankings and significant commercial accomplishments.”

    The 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software & Services report provides a summary of the KLAS performance ratings gathered over the past 12 months for healthcare IT software vendors in 93 market segments.

    About KLAS 
    KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and counted. Working with thousands of healthcare executives and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment, and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends, and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. KLAS was founded in 1996, and their staff and advisory board members average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. For more information, to go www.KLASresearch.com, email [email protected], or call 1800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter at @KLASresearch.

    About Merge
    Merge is a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare. Merge’s enterprise and cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides clinical trials software with end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and analytics solutions. With solutions that have been used by providers for more than 25 years, Merge is helping to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance the quality of healthcare worldwide. For more information, visit merge.com and follow them on Twitter @MergeHealthcare.

    Posted 8.19.2015

  • CynergisTek Ranks in Top 20% on Inc. Magazine’s 34th Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

    Healthcare IT Privacy & Security Firm Ranks No. 941 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 with Three-Year Sales Growth of 472%

    Austin, TX – August 13, 2015 — CynergisTek™, an authority in health information security and privacy, today announced that Inc. Magazine ranked the company No. 941 on the 34th annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. CynergisTek is ranked for the second year in a row, rising to the top 20 percent, from No. 2252 in 2014.

    “We are honored to be ranked on the Inc. 5000 once again this year, and to jump over 1,300 spots is especially rewarding for our hardworking team,” said Dr. Michael Mathews, CynergisTek COO. “The prevalence of data breaches and stricter regulation in the healthcare industry has shone a spotlight on the importance of effective privacy and information security. There is a need for the outsourced support and expert guidance we provide, which is best demonstrated by our continued growth.”

    CynergisTek is ranked among the top 15 companies in the security industry, and of those, is the only one completely service-based. CynergisTek’s core competencies are enhanced through strategic relationships with best-in-class partners in areas including data loss prevention, log data management and application security, to deliver trusted expert resources to all of its clients.

    “The story of this year’s Inc. 5000 is the story of great leadership. In an incredibly competitive business landscape, it takes something extraordinary to take your company to the top,” says Inc. President and Editor-In-Chief Eric Schurenberg. “You have to remember that the average company on the Inc. 5000 grew nearly six-fold since 2012. Business owners don’t achieve that kind of success by accident.”

    The annual Inc. 5000 event honoring all the companies on the list will be held from October 21 through 23, 2015 in Orlando. Speakers include some of the greatest entrepreneurs of this and past generations, such as Marcus Lemonis, host of the CNBC show “The Profit,” Robert Herjavec, one of the main “sharks” on ABC-TV’s “Shark Tank,” KIND Founder and CEO Daniel Lubetzky, and Co-Founder of Goodshop.com, JJ Ramberg.

    Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

    About CynergisTek
    CynergisTek is a top-ranked information security and privacy consulting firm. The company offers solutions to help organizations measure security and privacy programs against regulatory requirements and assists in developing risk management best practices. Since 2003 the company has served as a partner to hundreds in the healthcare industry. CynergisTek is also dedicated to supporting and educating the industry by contributing to relevant associations such as HIMSS, AHIMA, HFMA, HCCA, AHIA, AHLA, IAPP and CHIME. CynergisTek was recognized by KLAS®, as one of three firms provider organizations turn to most for privacy and security assistance in its groundbreaking report released in May 2014, entitled “Security and Privacy Perception 2014: High Stakes, Big Challenges.” For more information visit www.cynergistek.com, call 512.402.8550 or email [email protected].

    Posted 8.18.2015

  • Futura Mobility Earns Impressive, 9th Consecutive Ranking in 2015 Inc. 5000 List

    PHILADELPHIA, PA – August 17, 2015 –- For the 9th consecutive year, Futura Mobility announces they have been awarded a spot on the annual list of fastest-growing private companies in America. Futura is a technology strategy and solutions company serving enterprise and healthcare industries. This announcement follows several strategic moves by Futura Mobility, making them a “2020-ready” company that is able to deliver services including secure communications platforms and healthcare analytics solutions in addition to their mobile technology and support expertise.

    “We are thrilled that once again our business model and execution has resulted in this distinct honor,” Futura Mobility Chairman Janet DeNicola said. “Such tenure and consistency is a true testament to the professionalism of our employees.  Being on Inc. 5000’s 2015 List again shows we are doing it right; our customers expect and deserve nothing less.”

    The President and Editor-In-Chief of Inc. Magazine tells us that only a tiny fraction of the nation’s companies have demonstrated such remarkably consistent high growth, particularly in the difficult economic environment of the past few years. David Gulian, Futura Mobility’s CEO said “ranking for the 9th consecutive time with a 3-year growth of 154% is an honor and truly puts us in elite company.”

    Futura Mobility in collaboration with partners Pursuit Healthcare Advisors, Practice Unite, and Real Time Learning Solutions agree that successful mobility solutions require data becoming usable information and having secure access to that information in a dynamic and mobile delivery. Together they help diverse enterprises such as Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, and Automobile industries solve real problems with measurable outcomes that improve the customer experience, quality, and financial performance.

    About Futura Mobility
    Based in Philadelphia, Futura Mobility is a privately-held IT services organization specializing in technology solutions for the many industries. Through collaborations with some of the most forward-thinking technology companies, Futura offers an innovative, cohesive solution to address IT and mobility challenges. Futura Mobility has been recognized nationally for year-over-year growth on the INC 5000 and Deloitte Fast 500 lists. For more information, please visit www.futuramobility.com.

    Posted 8.18.2015

  • Huntzinger Management Group Announces Shelly Peters as Practice Director, Data Analytics

    PLAINS, PA – August 12, 2015 ( PRNewswire) — The Huntzinger Management Group, Inc. (HMG), a leader in healthcare advisory, managed services, implementation and supplemental staffing services consulting, announced Shelly Peters as Practice Director, Data Analytics. Founding Partner Bob Kitts, Chief Executive Officer of HMG, made the announcement.

    As Practice Director, Data Analytics, Peters will be responsible for managing the provision of HMG’s V6 Data Analytics services to clients. These offerings complement HMG’s other strategic consulting practices and provide a much-needed suite of planning, advisory, data management and governance, analytics and business intelligence implementation assistance for healthcare organizations seeking to leverage their growing data assets.

    Shelly has been assisting healthcare organizations with implementations and initiatives for 30 years, with the last 17 being focused on preserving and extending the value of discrete data collected in healthcare information technology. She has worked with clinical, financial, and revenue cycle data sources in the inpatient, outpatient, and departmental setting and brings project management, technical skills, and leadership experience to the HMG team. She is an active member of HIMSS, Georgia Chapter.

    “Shelly has an outstanding background in data analytics, including previously owning her own data analytics company,” said William Reed, Vice President and Managing Partner of HMG. “Her background is an incredible asset not only for our team, but for our clients. Shelly absolutely understands the value and challenges of data, and will assist our clients in maximizing the value they receive from their data. We welcome Shelly to our team as we continue to work on being a preeminent force in helping clients leverage their IT investment and gain maximum value from their IT spend.”

    Peters earned a Master of Business Administration from Kennesaw University and a Bachelor of Science in Management degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently she is completing her dissertation towards an Executive Doctorate in Business fromGeorgia State University.

    About Huntzinger Management Group, Inc.
    HMG provides advisory and managed services consulting to the healthcare industry. We focus on clinical and operational business performance optimization by ensuring alignment between IT, clinical, and ambulatory areas to position our healthcare clients for the future. For more information, visit www.huntzingergroup.com.

    Posted 8.13.2015

  • Orion Health Promotes Cheryl McKay, PhD, RN, to Chief Nursing Officer

    Dr. McKay Brings Extensive Clinical Knowledge & Deep Industry Experience to Leadership Team in North America

     

    Boston, MA – August 11, 2015 — Orion Health™, a population health management and healthcare integration company, today announced the promotion of Cheryl McKay, PhD, RN, to Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of North America. In her new role, Dr. McKay will provide strategic guidance on all care coordination initiatives and support the development of the company’s innovative population health solution suite.

    Previously, Dr. McKay held the position of Nurse Executive at Orion Health. In that role, she was responsible for the successful development and implementation of the company’s Healthier Populations suite of products. She also worked with healthcare organizations to help maximize their investment in Orion Health’s solutions, ensuring solutions were leveraged in ways that enhanced care coordination. In her new role as Orion Health CNO, Dr. McKay will continue supporting Orion Health’s clients as they address specific care delivery challenges, and will also now lead a subset of the Orion Advisory Team in its mission to provide world-class professional consulting services to current and potential clients.

    “Over the last year, Dr. McKay has become a valuable asset to our organization, demonstrating her strengths as a clinical leader who is well-equipped to meet the challenges of our growing client base,” said Paul Viskovich, President of Orion Health North America. “This promotion is the natural next step for Dr. McKay and we are confident that she will continue providing exemplary support for our clients as they address population health and care coordination challenges.”

    Prior to joining Orion Health, Dr. McKay served as Vice President of Care Coordination at Net. Orange Inc., a NantHealth Company. In this position, she worked with a diverse group of clinical leaders, IT developers and technicians to meet the needs of the healthcare delivery system. She also provided strategic direction for the clinical and content domains to the NantHealth leadership team. Before, Dr. McKay was the Chief Clinical Officer at LifeCare Hospitals where she was responsible for establishing appropriate policies and procedures, process workflow and process evaluations for all clinical areas of practice. Dr. McKay received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Mount St. Mary’s College, a Masters of Science in Nursing from Azusa Pacific University and a PhD with an emphasis in Care Coordination from the University of Texas at Tyler.

    “I am thrilled to be advancing my career at a company that is truly at the forefront of healthcare interoperability and population health technology innovation,” said Dr. McKay. “I am looking forward to continuing to collaborate with clinical leaders at healthcare organizations and help them leverage Orion Health’s solutions to positively impact care coordination and ultimately improve outcomes.”

    About Orion Health, Inc
    Orion Health, a global leader in population health management, makes healthcare information available anywhere by providing healthcare IT connectivity in every US state and in over 30 countries worldwide—facilitating care for tens of millions of patients every day. With an inherent ability to interconnect a wide variety of healthcare information systems, Orion Health’s Open Platform facilitates data acquisition and aggregation within and among payer and provider organizations, accountable care organizations, governments and health information exchanges.  Open Platform stands alone as the foundation for population health management initiatives or can be combined with Orion Health’s own seamlessly integrated applications for analytics, care coordination, and patient engagement to enable end to end population health management, improve care coordination, enhance quality of care and help reduce costs. For more information, visit www.orionhealth.com. Connect with them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

    Posted 8.12.2015

  • University Hospitals of Cleveland Selects Sectra’s VNS Solution

    Shelton, CT – August 12, 2015 — International medical imaging IT company Sectra (STO: SECT B) announces that University Hospitals (UH) has entered into a multi-year contract to implement its vendor neutral archive (VNA) solution for the handling of patient imaging throughout the University Hospitals system.

    University Hospitals of Cleveland encompasses 16 hospitals, more than 30 outpatient facilities and provides health care services throughout 15 counties within Northeast Ohio. The initial VNA implementation will encompass radiology, cardiology, dermatology and ophthalmology imaging. UH will host the archive through its existing data centers. Initially the archive will manage 1.5 million studies per year.

    “This implementation is an essential component of our strategy to unify our electronic medical records across the enterprise. The VNA will establish within our EMR a single access point where providers can view medical images, such as radiology and cardiovascular studies. Our longstanding and productive partnership with Sectra will serve to make this an efficient transition for us,” says John Foley, Chief Information Officer, University Hospitals.

    “University Hospitals and Sectra have enjoyed a strong relationship with Sectra PACS since 2003. Our dedication to customer satisfaction and our understanding of UH’s clinical workflows and data storage made the Sectra VNA a logical next step. Both of our institutions are founded on being innovative and this cutting-edge architecture is another example of our diligence to create solutions for the long-term benefit of enhanced patient care,” says Mikael Anden, president of Sectra, North America.

    About Sectra VNA
    Sectra VNA supports a patient-centered workflow by enabling capture, storage and access to virtually any image, video and sound. The solution offers strong total cost of ownership. Sectra VNA is both storage-vendor agnostic and workflow vendor independent, enabling efficient communication with surrounding systems.

    About Sectra
    With more than 20 years in the business, Sectra develops and sells IT systems and services for radiology, pathology, women’s health and orthopaedics. More than 1,700 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers worldwide use the systems daily, making Sectra one of the world-leading companies for handling digital images. For more information, visit www.sectra.com

     

    Posted 8.12.2015

  • Spok Consulting Services Help Sentara Healthcare Make Communications & Collaboration More Efficient

    SPRINGFIELD, VA( BUSINESS WIRE) –Sentara Healthcare has enhanced operator workflows and improved the efficiency of their busy call center by more than 12 percent with the help of Spok Consulting Services. This is especially significant because the call center handles a heavy volume and sends more than 300,000 pages per month.

    “It has been really worthwhile to uncover some things we didn’t know about. We’re also considering bringing Consulting Services back to do a deep dive into the clinical communications at one of our hospitals and work on the Spok Mobile deployment at that location.”

    Sentara engaged Spok to examine the non-profit hospital system’s use of Spok® solutions and recommend process updates that would align operator workflows with the latest industry best practices. After discussing project goals, Spok’s team of experts delivered more than a dozen specific action items to help maximize the call center’s paging capabilities and fully utilize system capabilities.

    “We knew a lot about our Spok system, but we certainly didn’t know everything,” said Greg Walkup, IT director at Sentara Healthcare. “From how we’re set up to the operation of our systems, we wanted to know if there were functions we weren’t using and if we could modify our process for better results.”

    Walkup outlined several goals for the Consulting Services engagement:

    • Evaluate call center efficiency and suggest best-practice improvements
    • Increase physicians’ and nurses’ use of the online staff directory to locate colleagues
    • Promote use of Spok Mobile®, Spok’s HIPAA-compliant texting app, so clinicians can include patient details securely in their messages (such as filling treatment order requests)

    “Although we’ve just begun to implement changes, the consulting engagement has already been an excellent use of our time and resources,” Walkup said. “It has been really worthwhile to uncover some things we didn’t know about. We’re also considering bringing Consulting Services back to do a deep dive into the clinical communications at one of our hospitals and work on the Spok Mobile deployment at that location.”

    Healthcare communications are far from static, and hospitals that use Spok solutions can benefit from an occasional re-examination of how products are deployed and how people are using them, noted Brenda Wurst, Spok’s global head of Consulting Services. Wurst led the consulting effort at Sentara Healthcare.

    “We’re another pair of eyes to help companies get the most out of their communications and collaboration,” Wurst said. “Because we’re not involved in the day-to-day operations of a company, we often can see efficiencies or workflow improvements that others may have missed. Also, because we see Spok products used in different ways across a number of industries, we often have suggestions on best practices.”

    For more information on Spok Consulting Services, visit www.spok.com/solutions/professional-services/consulting-services.

    About Sentara Healthcare
    Sentara Healthcare is an integrated, non-profit health system serving Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Based in Norfolk, Va., Sentara Healthcare system operates 12 acute care hospitals, as well as advanced imaging centers, nursing and assisted-living centers, outpatient campuses, physical therapy and rehabilitation services, home health and hospice agency, a 3,800-provider medical staff, and five medical groups. In addition, Sentara provides medical transport ambulances and Nightingale air ambulance. It also extends health insurance to 450,000 people through Optima Health, its award-winning health plan. To learn more about Sentara Healthcare, visit www.sentara.com.

    About Spok
    Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPOK), headquartered in Springfield, VA, is proud to be a leader in critical communications for healthcare, government, public safety, and other industries. They deliver smart, reliable solutions to help protect the health, well-being, and safety of people around the globe. Organizations worldwide rely on Spok for workflow improvement, secure texting, paging services, contact center optimization, and public safety response. When communications matter, Spok delivers. Visit them at spok.com or find them on Twitter.

    Posted 8.11.2015

  • Impact Advisors Recognized by KLAS for Service Performance

    Firm spotlighted in Midterm Software & Services Report

    Chicago, IL – August 11, 2015 — Impact Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of healthcare information technology services, was recently recognized in the KLAS 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software and Services Report. The firm was highlighted in the Service Performance by Firm section and received an overall score of 92.8.

    “We are extremely proud of this recent recognition by KLAS,” said Andy Smith, President and Co-Founder of Impact Advisors. “Our firm is client focused and we are committed to providing exceptional service which allows our clients to optimize outcomes and enhance patient care in the communities they serve.”

    Impact Advisors was spotlighted among seven other firms and received the highest performance rating for its services. The firm was recognized for exceptional performance in three solution performance categories with the following scores: 92.1 for Clinical Implementation Principal; 91.8 for Clinical Implementation Supportive; and 94.9 for Planning and Assessment. The scores are based on a 100-point scale.

    The KLAS 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software and Services Report profiles hundreds of software and service vendors, providing a detailed look at the performance of each company’s product line. The report aggregates performance data gathered during the past 12 months from 21 market segments. The findings represent the voice of thousands of providers sharing their candid experience with various healthcare technology solutions and vendors. To access the 2015 Midterm Performance Review: Software and Services Report, visit www.klasresearch.com.

    Impact Advisors has received Best in KLAS distinctions for the past seven years. This past January, the firm was awarded 2014 Best in KLAS Overall IT Services Firm and Clinical Implementation Principal.

    For more information on Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com or visit the company on Facebook.

    About KLAS
    KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and counted. Working with thousands of healthcare professionals and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. Follow KLAS on Twitter.

    About Impact Advisors, LLC
    Impact Advisors, a distinguished healthcare information technology consulting firm, improves its clients’ healthcare delivery through technology. As a trusted healthcare leader, the firm helps hospitals and health systems maximize clinical and operational performance with its Best in KLAS® strategic advisory, implementation and optimization services. Since its inception, Impact Advisors has consulted to more than 140 hospitals and health systems nationally and internationally. The firm has earned a number of industry and workplace quality awards including Best in KLAS® for seven consecutive years, Healthcare Informatics HCI 100, Crain’s Chicago Business Fast Fifty and Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work.  For more information about Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com.

    Posted 8.11.2015
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