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Imagix Using Intelerad Solutions to Connect to Quebec Health Record
Imaging group to deploy IntelePACS® across its 13 radiology clinics
MONTREAL, CAN – April 18, 2016 — Intelerad Medical Systems™, a leader in distributed medical imaging solutions, today announced that Imagix Medical Imaging, which is headquartered in Brossard, Quebec is deploying IntelePACS across their thirteen radiology clinics. Imagix will also use Intelerad solutions to connect to the Quebec Health Record (QHR), which is the province’s central repository of patient information.
“The QHR securely stores clinical information that’s produced by pharmacies, laboratories, radiology clinics and hospitals across the province. We are the first medical imaging laboratories outside of the hospital system to integrate with the QHR,” said Geneviève Biron, President and CEO, Imagix Medical Imaging. “This allows doctors and other healthcare professionals to rapidly access medical information and provide higher-quality healthcare to their patients. Through this integration with the QHR, Imagix demonstrates its full commitment to facilitating access to medical imaging examinations and treatments in Quebec, as well as our commitment to the communities we serve.”
To date, Imagix has integrated five (5) of their radiology clinics with the QHR. These are the first medical imaging laboratories outside of the hospital system to connect to the QHR. Between now and June 2016, Imagix will integrate eight (8) more sites. Once all of their site integrations are complete, Imagix will contribute about 540,000 exams and reports per year to the QHR.
The exams which are added to the QHR will be accessible for consultation by healthcare professionals across the province. This provides clinicians with rapid access to patient images and reports, which helps eliminate unnecessary images, provide diagnoses in less time, and improve the overall quality of healthcare delivered.
“With the need for interoperability continuing to grow, we’re seeing a rise in demand for cross-enterprise imaging solutions,” said Randall Oka, President & CEO, Intelerad. “Taking advantage of our solutions’ capabilities, Imagix will be able to access and share patient images and reports with public hospitals and referring physicians across the province.”
For more information on Intelerad’s cross-enterprise imaging solutions, visit www.intelerad.com/inteleone-xe.
About Intelerad
Intelerad Medical Systems is a leader in distributed radiology, specializing in RIS, PACS and cross-enterprise imaging solutions for all types of healthcare organizations. Intelerad solutions increase productivity and streamline workflow by overcoming technical barriers in distributed and complex environments. Highly scalable, flexible and robust, Intelerad’s solutions offer high performance and industry-leading customer service and support. Intelerad solutions are used in more than 1,000 sites across North America, Oceania and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.intelerad.com.Contact
Helene Gey
Intelerad Medical Systems Incorporated
514.931.6222 ext. 7424
[email protected]
www.intelerad.comAbout Imagix
Imagix – Medical Imaging provides high-quality medical imaging services to healthcare professionals and their patients through their network of 13 radiology clinics. Their services are professional, fast and standardized in partnership with the public health system to make a significant contribution to all stakeholders. Each year, Imagix conducts 540,000 exams.Posted 4.19.2016 -
CynergisTek Updates OCR Compliance & Audit Services to Ready for Phase 2 of HIPAA Audit Program
Specialized Healthcare Privacy & IT Security Firm Issues Updated Proprietary OCR Audit Toolkit to Customers
AUSTIN, TX – April 15, 2016 — CynergisTek™, an authority in health information security, privacy and regulatory compliance, today announced that it has updated its suite of OCR Compliance & Audit Services to provide healthcare organizations with tools that are aligned with the new phase 2 HIPAA audit protocol adopted by the Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR will inaugurate the next phase of its HIPAA audits by beginning desk audits of covered entities in May, and desk audits of business associates in June. The OCR HIPAA compliance desk audits will review the policies and procedures adopted and employed by covered entities and their business associates to meet selected standards and implementation specifications of the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules.
As part of updating its audit services, CynergisTek revamped its proprietary OCR Audit Toolkit in accordance with the new protocol and issued it to current Compliance Assistant Partner Program (CAPP) customers and participants of previous OCR Audit Services. The toolkit presents each of the 180 standards and implementation specifications of the HIPAA rules along with the measurement criteria auditors will use to evaluate for compliance. It also provides an actionable worksheet to help manage the key materials that every organization will need to respond to an audit or compliance review.
Already delivered to select customers and available to new OCR Mock Audit and OCR Audit Readiness Workshop participants, the timely updates to its OCR Audit Toolkit exemplifies CynergisTek’s commitment to continuously evolve its offerings to address the increasingly complex regulatory landscape in healthcare.
“Healthcare organizations have a multitude of care initiatives and compliance requirements to manage at any one time, making it very difficult for them to keep pace and ensure due diligence on all of it,” said David Holtzman, VP of Compliance at CynergisTek. “The threat to healthcare’s information assets is at an all-time high, making third party assistance in compliance and security specifically business-critical. We are proud to have the expertise and inside knowledge to support our clients where they need it most today.”
About CynergisTek
CynergisTek is a top-ranked information security and privacy consulting firm. The company offers solutions to help organizations measure privacy and security programs against regulatory requirements and assists in developing risk management best practices. Since 2004 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 has been named in multiple research reports as one of the top firms provider organizations turn to for privacy and security.Posted 4.15.2016 -
Inside CHIME: CHIME Members Honored As Most Powerful Women in Health IT
4.13.16 by Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIMENational publication recognizes CIOs and health IT leaders for their vision, passion and commitment to improving healthcare.
Health Data Management last week unveiled its list of the “Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT.” Impressively, 34 of the honorees in the CIO and health IT leader category are CHIME members, including board members Cara Babachicos, Myra Davis, Liz Johnson, Theresa Meadows and Donna Roach. A number of CHIME Foundation firms were also represented in the “Thought Leaders” category.
“I am honored to be identified by HDM and to be included with a group of women who are unbelievable leaders in the healthcare industry,” said Donna Roach, CHCIO, chief information officer at Via Christi Health. “I am very appreciative of the networking and mentoring they have provided me throughout my career.”
The award recognized major accomplishments the CIOs have had throughout their careers, as well as their overall impact on health IT. For instance, HDM editors acknowledged Davis’ work in partnering with clinical and quality leaders at Texas Children’s Hospital to “drive data-based performance improvement projects that are improving patient outcomes and reducing costs.” The editors highlighted Johnson’s leadership role in CHIME – she’ll serve as board chair in 2017 – and at the federal level as a member of HHS’ Health Information Technology Standards Committee.
“CHIME continues to embrace the kind of leadership that represents a rare combination of IT expertise and an extensive knowledge of the clinical experience,” said Johnson, R.N., FCHIME, CHCIO, CIO of acute care hospitals and applied clinical informatics, Tenet Healthcare. “Many women working in leadership roles in IT have clinical backgrounds – I am a nurse – and bringing this type of experience to the CIO roundtable means the introduction of new ideas, creation of new associations, establishing new opportunities to work together in terms of diversity in thought and in creativity.”
In announcing the awards, HDM noted that while there is more public awareness about the need for gender diversity in the executive ranks, women continue to lag behind men in holding leadership position in healthcare. A goal of the awards is to shine a spotlight on the impact these leaders have on the industry.
“Women technology leaders should aim for a culture of inclusiveness,” said Davis, senior vice president and CIO, Texas Children’s Hospital. “Because we work in a field that is predominately male, women leaders need to have an open mind about inclusiveness. Let’s not let our gender difference be an excuse for who or where we are.”
More Inside CHIME Volume 1, No. 15:
- Staying Focused on Cybersecurity – Matthew Weinstock
- This Week’s Washington Debrief (4.11.16)
Posted 4.14.2016 -
Inside CHIME: Staying Focused on Cybersecurity
4.13.16 by Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIMEHighly public ransomware attacks have put healthcare in the spotlight. CHIME and AEHIS continue to actively engage industry stakeholders and policymakers in efforts to share information about cybersecurity.
There’s no denying it — the recent spate of ransomware attacks have put healthcare in the national spotlight. From the front page to Capitol Hill, there’s interest in knowing how healthcare organizations are shoring up their defenses. And while ransomware is the topic of the day, it’s important to take a step back and remember that it is only a subset of the broader cybersecurity threats facing the industry.
With that larger picture in mind, CHIME and its affiliate, the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS), are engaged in efforts to increase information sharing across the industry and with policymakers. On that latter point, CHIME board members David Finn and Theresa Meadows, R.N., were recently named to Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force. The 21-person task force is mandated by the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 and is charged with analyzing the unique challenges and barriers to cybersecurity in healthcare. It is slated to report to Congress within a year. Additionally, CHIME and AEHIS in February submitted comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology on its “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.”
From a member outreach and education perspective, CHIME has a handful of LEAD Forums slated for 2016 focused exclusively on cybersecurity. During these day-long events, attendees will learn from a panel of experts about the keys to building an effective cybersecurity strategy. Additionally, the AEHIS staff has complied a number of external resources that may prove valuable as CIOs and CISOs revisit their plans, including:
- Healthcare and Public Health Sector-Specific Plan: This 2010 document complements that National
Infrastructure Protection Plan, but focuses on the unique challenges facing healthcare. - NIST Framework to Reduce Cyber Risks to Critical Infrastructure: The framework contains standards,
guidelines and practices for protecting critical infrastructure. - Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community Voluntary Program: Among other things, the so-called C3 program
helps stakeholders understand the national cybersecurity framework and is a venue for providing feedback.
CHIME and AEHIS members can log in here for the full list of resources.
More Inside CHIME Volume 1, No. 15:
- CHIME Members Honored As Most Powerful Women in Health IT – Matthew Weinstock
- This Week’s Washington Debrief (4.11.16)
Posted 4.14.2016 - Healthcare and Public Health Sector-Specific Plan: This 2010 document complements that National
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PROMEDICA TO EXPAND SECTRA PACS INTO A VNA FOR ENTERPRISE IMAGING
SHELTON, CT – April 13, 2016 — International medical imaging IT company Sectra (STO: SECT B) announces that ProMedica has entered into a six-year contract to expand its current Sectra PACS into a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA). This will provide enterprise image management capabilities including viewing, distribution, and archiving of one million radiology, cardiology, dermatology and ophthalmology images annually. Via integration with the Epic EHR, physicians will have access to their patients’ complete imaging history enabling improved efficiencies and patient care.
“Sectra has been a great partner for us in our Epic implementation with its tight integration. We enjoy our relationship with their development and support teams who have allowed us to optimize the PACS environment as it complements our EHR,” comments Debi Brobst, VP of Clinical Services at ProMedica.
Serving northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, the thirteen-hospital system has been in a growth mode and will install Sectra PACS in two recently acquired facilities. Additionally to aid the expansion of Sectra PACS to a platform for true enterprise image management, newly released advanced visualization tools from Sectra will improve PACS reading functionality for diagnostic imaging, mammography and nuclear medicine radiologists.
“Sectra and ProMedica have enjoyed a collaborative relationship since 2007. With our flexible architecture, we are able to build on the existing configuration and provide an enterprise platform that will allow ProMedica to continue delivering excellent patient care,” says Sectra North American President, Mikael Anden.
Sectra VNA supports patient-centered workflow by enabling capture, storage and access to virtually any image and multi-media. 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.comContact
Andrea Sowitch, Vice President of Marketing
Sectra North America
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 203.925.0899 ext 268Posted 4.13.2016 -
CynergisTek CEO to Keynote CHIME Information Security Events for Third Consecutive Year
Mac McMillan to Discuss Cybersecurity Risk Management at 2016 CHIME LEAD Forums
AUSTIN, TX – April 12, 2016 — CynergisTek™, an authority in health information security, privacy and compliance, today announced that its CEO, Mac McMillan, was selected by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) to deliver the closing keynote address at six of the organization’s cybersecurity-focused 2016 LEAD Forums, Health Information Executive’s Guide to Cybersecurity. As part of CHIME’s education program, the forums will provide best practices for CIOs and CISOs to protect their organizations from cybersecurity threats. This marks the third consecutive year that McMillan, also an Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS) Advisory Board Member, has been invited to keynote the events.
McMillan’s keynote address, “Developing and Managing an Ongoing Risk Management Program,” will focus on cybersecurity risk management, drawing from his in-depth knowledge of current cybersecurity trends, such as social engineering, phishing, and insider abuse, as well as his technical expertise on data theft mitigation. McMillan will address the need for healthcare organizations to implement ongoing risk management programs that involve both process improvements and the implementation of technologies. Attendees will take away an understanding of the latest cybersecurity strategies and learn ways to encourage open knowledge sharing about effective risk management tactics between peers.
“No healthcare organization is immune from the cyber threats that are growing both in frequency and sophistication,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “Developing strong risk management and risk mitigation strategies is essential to protecting patient information. Mac brings a wealth of experience to the LEAD Forums and AEHIS and can help CIOs and CISOs better prepare their organizations for a cyberattack.”
McMillan will deliver the closing keynote at the following 2016 CHIME LEAD events:
- April 18 in Cleveland
- June 13 in Boston
- July 11 in Denver
- August 10 in Nashville, TN
- August 15 in Seattle
- December 5 in Dallas
“I am honored to return to the CHIME LEAD Forums and contribute to the information sharing and education around cybersecurity, as it’s one of the timeliest and threatening topics facing healthcare today,” said McMillan. “It is clear from the prevalence of cybersecurity incidents just this year that greater focus is required. I applaud CHIME for its efforts in addressing this knowledge gap and looking forward to sharing my experience and insights.”
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,800 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.About AEHIS
AEHIS is the only professional organization focused on supporting the healthcare industry’s security executive community. AEHIS provides professional development and educational resources on important healthcare security issues, as well as an environment where /security leaders can communicate with, inform and educate one another. For more information, please visit aehis.org.About CynergisTek
CynergisTek is a top-ranked information security and privacy consulting firm. The company offers solutions to help organizations measure privacy and security programs against regulatory requirements and assists in developing risk management best practices. Since 2004 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 has been named in multiple industry research reports as one of the top firms provider organizations turn to most for privacy and security.Media Contact
Taylor VerMeer
Account Executive
Aria Marketing
617.332.9999 x205
[email protected]
Posted 4.12.2016 -
North Memorial Health Care Leverages Vital’s VitreaView® Software to Image-Enable Its Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — North Memorial Health Care, an Accountable Care Organization named a Best Hospital on Healthgrades 2015 Americas 50 Best Hospitals list, provides comprehensive access to imaging critical to patient care by enlisting Vital Images, Inc.’s, (Vital’s) VitreaView® enterprise viewer software. Integrated with its Epic EMR and EpicCare Link, VitreaView software is aimed to support relationships between referring physicians, clinicians and patients, with fast access to patient imaging.
“Fast access to images is imperative for a holistic view of a patient’s imaging history for everyday clinical patient interaction. Images play a key role in treatment planning and communication with referring physicians. We are proud to have great partners like North Memorial whose people and services make them a top 50 hospital. We are grateful to be a part of their story and enterprise informatics solution, as our success is rooted in our customers’ success,” said Jim Litterer, President and Chief Executive Officer for Vital.
“With a focus on patient outcomes, North Memorial is committed to providing its staff with the best tools available, so they can have access to the information they need, when and where they need it,” said Chad Hills, Enterprise Imaging Applications Lead at North Memorial Health Care. “This includes sharing information with referring physicians and among care teams and patients. Interoperability is key. VitreaView software’s integration with Epic’s EMR and EpicCare Link enables secure and fast access to critical imaging information within their existing tools and workflows, which is a unique offering to our network.”
“Accessing images via VitreaView software is wicked fast,” said Irfan Altafullah, M.D., Chief Medical Information Officer at North Memorial. “This is particularly important in my area of expertise, which is neurology, where time is critical in the evaluation and treatment of stroke patients.”
“North Memorial Health Care has been a Vital customer for as long as I can remember, for everything from advanced imaging to enterprise viewing. The recent integration of VitreaView software went incredibly smoothly and Vital supported us every step of the way, which meant minimal to no interruption for the medical staff who we support,” stated Chad Hills, Enterprise Imaging Applications Lead at North Memorial Health Care. “With hundreds of sessions per day, we could not afford an interruption in availability of VitreaView.”
“Each time VitreaView software is used we help add context to words on a report by enabling image viewing, reducing the need for image CDs, and giving back thousands of minutes to clinicians to be able to focus on their job and their patients. This is what we do and why we do it,” commented Scott Galbari, General Manager, Enterprise Informatics at Vital.
About Vital Images, Inc.
Vital Images, Inc., a Toshiba Medical Systems Group Company, is a leading provider of health imaging diagnostic, management and imaging intelligence solutions, to help healthcare organizations deliver exceptional care while optimizing resources across multi-facility organizations. The company’s solutions are scalable to meet the unique needs of hospitals and imaging centers and are accessible throughout the enterprise anytime and anywhere. For more information, visit www.vitalimages.com or join the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.Contact
Dr. Paul A. Markham
952.487.9704
[email protected]
www.vitalimages.comPosted 4.11.2016 -
Adrienne Edens to Join CHIME as Vice President of Education Services
ANN ARBOR, MI, April 11, 2016 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) announced that Adrienne Edens, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, will be joining the organization as vice president of education services. Most recently, Edens was chief information officer for Sutter Health Valley Area. She will start at CHIME on June 1.
“We are thrilled to have (Edens) on the CHIME team. She’s one of the most respected CIOs in the industry,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “She brings a tremendous amount of experience to the position and fully understands the kind of support CIOs and other health IT leaders need to continue developing their careers. She’s a charter member of CHIME and has always been a passionate advocate for helping members expand their leadership skills and become agents of change within their organizations.”
Edens has a rich 25-year history as a CIO and has more than 40 years of health IT experience. She was named CIO of Sutter Health Valley Area in August 2015. Prior to that, she was CIO for Sutter Health’s East Bay Region. Before joining Sutter Health in 2012, Edens spent four years as system vice president and CIO at St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, ID. She’s also served in leadership positions at Kaiser Permanente and Dignity Health.
As health IT plays a more pivotal role in transforming the care delivery system, Edens has helped to raise the stature and visibility of CIOs across the industry. An active CHIME member, one of her primary areas of focus has been education and professional development. She was part of the faculty for CHIME’s Information Management Executive series in the 1990s. The leadership training program graduated nearly 1,000 participants during the decade. Later, Edens became a faculty member of CHIME’s highly successful Healthcare CIO Boot Camp.
“My passion has always been educating and teaching,” Edens said. “We are seeing so much change in the industry as new payment and care delivery models come into play. CHIME is in the position to help CIOs not only understand the skills that they need to be effective leaders today, but also position themselves for success in the future. The education, networking and best practice sharing that CHIME offers has been critical to my success as a CIO and a leader.”
Health Data Management named Edens to its “2016 Most Powerful Women in Healthcare” list. She was also recognized this year by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of its “100 Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know.” Edens has a Master’s Degree in applied psychology from the University of Santa Monica and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California-Davis. She is a CHIME fellow and past board member and has served on the HIMSS board.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,800 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.Contact
Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
734.249.8917
[email protected]Posted 4.11.2016 -
CloudWave Helps Healthcare Organizations Embrace the Cloud Through Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program
The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program allows CloudWave to provide direct billing, sell combined offers & services, as well as directly provision, manage & support Microsoft cloud offerings
MARLBOROUGH, MA – April 6, 2016 — CloudWave, a provider of IT solutions for healthcare, today announced its participation in the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program. The program is designed to strengthen customer relationships and expand cloud sales opportunities by enabling partners to provide direct billing, sell combined offers and services, as well as directly provision, manage, and support products and services.
CloudWave provides OpSus Cloud Services, designed specifically for healthcare, and delivers the security, reliability, and compliance required by hospitals. The OpSus cloud meets and exceeds the standards for HIPAA and HITECH compliance, and achieves SSAE16 SOC1 Type II attestation. Microsoft’s cloud solutions complement OpSus Cloud Services by enabling hospitals to choose services that meet their needs across their enterprise.
CloudWave owns the complete customer lifecycle, offering Office 365 and Microsoft Azure solutions and helping customers take advantage of cloud services by owning the entire billing process and directly managing support.
Jim Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President at CloudWave says, “We are continuing to see an accelerated growth of interest and adoption of cloud technologies for healthcare. Joining Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider program allows us to expand our cloud portfolio, ensuring our ability to provide our customers with the best cloud solutions to meet their specific workflow requirements. Whether it’s Azure or OpSus, or a hybrid model which leverages both, we’ll continue to provide the right solution to facilitate the delivery of patient care.”
“CloudWave is enabling healthcare organizations to architect a hybrid environment that leverages the power of public and private cloud resources while meeting requirements for security and compliance.”, said Bill Hakwins, Director, US Healthcare & Education Partner Team, Microsoft. “CloudWave’s engagement in Microsoft’s Cloud Service Provider program offers additional options to hospitals looking to build a solution that meets their unique needs.”
CloudWave’s portfolio of cloud services is informed and supported by a long history of designing, delivering, and supporting technology for hospitals. OpSus is the healthcare cloud, designed and delivered by healthcare people, for healthcare people.
About CloudWave
CloudWave is a designated MEDITECH Collaborative Solutions Provider, providing on-site private cloud solutions for healthcare organizations as well as the industry-leading OpSus Healthcare Cloud, which acts as a bridge between healthcare legacy Platform 2 client/server applications and emerging Platform 3 web solutions with their greater demands for security, performance, and sustainability. The OpSus Healthcare Cloud provides the flexibility and TCO advantages of Public Cloud solutions while delivering the sustained performance required by clinicians and administrators in healthcare environments with end to end management. For more information, visit www.gocloudwave.comPosted 4.8.2016 -
Sunquest Acquires GeneInsight to Enhance Precision Medicine Capabilities
Transaction advances Sunquest’s clinical genetics IT platform
TUCSON, AZ – April 4, 2016 — Sunquest Information Systems Inc. today announced the acquisition of GeneInsight Inc., an IT company that streamlines the analysis, interpretation and reporting of complex genetic tests.
The GeneInsight platform was developed by Partners HealthCare and has been in continuous clinical use since 2005 at the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine. In 2014, Sunquest made a strategic investment in GeneInsight and established an alliance with Partners to accelerate genomic-based medicine. Since that time, Sunquest and Partners have collaborated to provide seamless genetic testing workflow capabilities to geneticists and pathologists alike.
“We are at the beginning of the most exciting decade in healthcare, and precision medicine is one of our highest priorities for innovation,” said Matthew Hawkins, president of Sunquest. “GeneInsight is the most clinically-proven platform on the market and advances our ability to deliver a complete and integrated workflow for both inherited and somatic testing efforts. We will continue to invest in GeneInsight and introduce additional solutions that advance molecular and genomic-based diagnostics.”
Sunquest’s investment in GeneInsight supports its efforts to integrate genetics into routine diagnostic workflows and make findings available to clinicians globally in real-time. Sunquest, with more than 30 years of laboratory IT experience, will provide integration capabilities with other healthcare IT vendors including EHRs, LIMS and genetic content providers. The company will also continue to further develop VariantWire, a networking infrastructure and crowd-sourcing platform designed to enable high-throughput transfer of structured genetic data between and among laboratories and clinicians.
Under the terms of the agreement, GeneInsight will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunquest and maintain its existing Boston-based office.
“GeneInsight’s goal is to provide clinicians and laboratories with the ability to constantly improve clinical genetic processes and enable deeper cross-organizational communication for the benefit of patients,” said Sandy Aronson, executive director of information technology, Partners HealthCare’s Personalized Medicine and a founder of GeneInsight. “Sunquest will bring the GeneInsight solution to far more institutions, furthering its integration into pathology workflows and, by doing so, enable it to help many more people.”
About GeneInsight
GeneInsight Inc. is an IT platform company focused on streamlining the analysis, interpretation and reporting of complex genetic results. GeneInsight Suite® was developed by Partners HealthCare in collaboration with leading geneticists, laboratory operations personnel, practicing physicians and IT professionals. GeneInsight has been in clinical use since 2005 and has generated 50,000 clinical reports, more than all the other clinical solutions available on the market today combined. More information can be found at www.geneinsight.com.About Sunquest Information Systems
Sunquest Information Systems Inc. provides laboratory information systems to more than 1,700 laboratories. Since 1979, Sunquest has helped laboratories across the world optimize financial results, enhance efficiency and improve the quality of patient care. The company’s singular focus on diagnostic innovation has delivered solutions that offer unique support for complex testing, enable community-wide connectivity and can be used at the point-of-care. Headquartered in Tucson, AZ, with offices in the United Kingdom and India, Sunquest is a global leader in healthcare information technology. For more information, visit www.sunquestinfo.com.Media Contact
Michelle Ronan Noteboom
Amendola Communications for Sunquest Information Systems
512.426.2870
[email protected]Posted 4.4.2016 -
Cumberland Consulting Group Acquires Oleen Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting, Expands Payer Market Presence
NASHVILLE, TN – April 4, 2016 — Cumberland Consulting Group, a national healthcare strategic advisory, technology implementation and project management firm, today announced that it has acquired Little Rock-based Oleen Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting, a national healthcare consulting firm specializing in IT and operations for a diverse client base, including government healthcare agencies, integrated delivery systems and health plans.
The transaction expands Cumberland’s capabilities for government and commercial health plans to include core claims and administrative systems expertise, as well as strategic advisory and other managed services.
“Bringing together our two organizations meets the growing need in the marketplace for high-quality strategic advisory and information technology consulting services to help payer organizations navigate increasing government regulations and changing payment models,” said Brian Cahill, Cumberland CEO. “We are boosting our presence in the payer space by combining with Oleen and look forward to leveraging the collective knowledge and expertise of our newest team members to better serve our clients.”
Oleen has served the information technology and strategic management needs of health plans and healthcare providers since 1988. The firm also has deep health information exchange and government and public health experience working with a diverse portfolio of clients.
Approximately 50 Oleen professionals will be joining the Cumberland team as a result of the transaction, bringing Cumberland’s total employee count to more than 320. Oleen’s Little Rock office will be maintained and will serve as the main office for Cumberland’s payer division. Pete Biagioni, president and CEO of Oleen Healthcare, will join Cumberland as managing partner of the firm’s payer division and brings more than 25 years of industry experience in healthcare and technology.
“We are excited to join a top-notch organization like Cumberland, with a proven track record for helping healthcare clients optimize technology to improve performance,” Biagioni said. “The firm’s employee-driven culture and commitment to client service align with Oleen’s corporate values and make this the right move for us. Personally, I look forward to working with Cumberland’s leadership team to grow our combined organization.”
This is the third acquisition for Cumberland in the last two and half years. In June of 2014, the firm announced the purchase of Cipe Consulting Group, a Seattle-based healthcare technology consulting firm specializing in electronic health records and revenue cycle system implementation and support. In November of 2013, Cumberland acquired Mindlance Life Sciences, a consulting group focused on providing advisory and technology implementation services to pharmaceutical companies.
Cumberland is a portfolio company of Tailwind Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in growth-oriented middle market companies.
About Cumberland Consulting Group
Founded in 2004, Cumberland Consulting Group is a strategic business advisory, information technology implementation and support services firm serving the payer, provider and life sciences healthcare verticals. Cumberland’s objectives are to help its clients advance the quality of services they deliver and to improve their overall business performance. For more information on Cumberland, visit www.cumberlandcg.com or follow Cumberland on Twitter at @CumberlandCG.Media Contact
Jennifer Montlary
[email protected]
615.373.4470Posted 4.4.2016