MedAllies Selected to Present Its Direct Solution at the HIMSS12 Interoperability Showcase in February, to Be Demonstrated with NextGen Healthcare and Greenway EHR systems

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Jan 04, 2012, 08:45 ET

MedAllies Direct HISP Solution uses existing technology to improve care transitions in a manner consistent with practice workflows

FISHKILL, N.Y., Jan. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MedAllies has been selected to participate in the HIMSS12 Interoperability Showcase, demonstrating its Direct HISP Solution, an innovative tool to optimize patient care, safety and efficiency through the Direct exchange of crucial patient data.

MedAllies, along with health IT vendors NextGen Healthcare and Greenway Medical Technologies, will demonstrate the capabilities of this technology in the ONC area of the HIMSS12 Interoperability Showcase February 21-23, 2012. The demonstration will repeat the one they presented at November's ONC Annual Grantees meeting in Washington, D.C.

MedAllies was one of only seven sites to launch a pilot for the Direct Project, a national effort spearheaded by the ONC to fast-track electronic information exchange. Each pilot was different; in MedAllies' hands, Direct became a tool to advance primary care models that emphasize care coordination and improved care transitions. The project focuses on common care transition episodes: patient discharge from the hospital back to the primary care physician, a consultation request from a primary care physician to a specialist, and the clinical consultation from the specialist back to the primary care physician. With Direct, clinical information can be moved across disparate electronic health record (EHR) systems in a manner consistent with each practice's established EHR workflow.

The HIMSS demonstration will show precisely how this works. It will involve two clinical sites in upstate New York, Westchester Health Associates (using NextGen® Ambulatory EHR) and Prime Columbia Greene Medical Associates (using Greenway). They will demonstrate a common scenario: A primary care physician (PCP) will request a patient consultation of a cardiologist, after which the cardiologist will return the consultation report to the PCP.

This effort is not about technology for its own sake. It is about technology for the sake of patients, and it is available now. EHRs grow more sophisticated each year but, until recently, their potential has been hampered by the "Tower of Babel" syndrome: Systems from different vendors do not speak the same language. Interoperability—a requirement of Meaningful Use (and, some say, the Holy Grail of health IT)—has been more theory than practice. Its absence puts patients at risk because crucial information may not be communicated when EHRs fail to "understand" each other.

MedAllies remedies that without creating a burden for providers. MedAllies Direct HISP Solution builds on existing technology to achieve interoperability, with physicians using their current EHR systems. The MedAllies approach enhances and optimizes the practices' EHR workflows to process and integrate information exchanged during patient transitions of care. Providers and patients both benefit.

"As physicians, we are committed to providing high-quality, efficient care for our patients. But when a patient comes to our office and we don't have the information we need to care for the patient, it's not only frustrating—it can be life-threatening," explained Holly Miller, M.D., MBA, FHIMSS, chief medical officer of MedAllies. "With MedAllies Direct, clinicians have pertinent clinical information 'pushed' to them in their own EHR system, allowing them to provide the highest quality and most efficient care possible."

MedAllies' demonstration at the Annual ONC All Grantee meeting was well received. To see how well received it was, watch this video from the event praising the demonstration (registration required). Greenway and NextGen share credit for this success.

"It has never been more paramount to seize the opportunities and accelerate the momentum interoperability is driving right now to create a smarter healthcare system, and we are seeing gains in these point-to-point projects, in accountable care coordination, Beacon communities, HIE advancement and many other initiatives," said Justin Barnes, vice president of marketing, industry and government affairs at Greenway.

"We are proud to continue and expand upon our partnership with MedAllies on the Direct Project begun last year and showcased at HIMSS11 with NextGen Healthcare, and as a standard-bearer for the advancement of data exchange," added Barnes, who also serves on the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE-USA) North America board of directors.

Robert Barker, NextGen Healthcare's manager of Interoperability & Standards, stressed the importance of delivering timely, appropriate data to the physicians.

"Implementing the NwHIN Direct specifications as another avenue for interoperability allows the healthcare IT community to share clinical information across disparate systems," he said. "NextGen Healthcare supports the ONC Standards and Interoperability Framework initiatives, and we are pleased to be a part of the upcoming HIMSS demonstration. Standardization of clinical content sharing, transport and schema is the fastest way to see that providers have the right information for the right person at the right time. The Direct Project helps us take an important step in that direction."

About MedAllies
MedAllies, founded in 2001, has extensive experience with EHR implementations and workflow redesign to improve clinical care. It provides unmatched expertise in health information exchange and Direct services. MedAllies operates the THINC eXchange, an HIE designed to increase the completeness of information at the point of care, improve care coordination and standardize quality and public health reporting in New York's Hudson Valley. MedAllies has provided Direct services since the Direct Project's inception and has several pilot sites in New York State. MedAllies' Direct HISP Solution is a tool to advance primary care models that emphasize care coordination and improved care transitions. To learn more, visit www.medallies.com. Issue briefs—including three on the Direct Project—are available at www.hudsonvalleyinitiative.com/press-kit.html.

About Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.
Greenway Medical Technologies provides innovative EHR, ambulatory healthcare and clinical research business solutions and services to more than 33,000 healthcare providers nationwide, in 30 specialties and subspecialties, by enhancing the delivery of patient care through advanced health IT software and on-demand services that allow physician practices to function at their highest level of efficiency in group practice, IDN, REC, HIE, IPA, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) settings. Established in 1998, Carrollton, Ga.-based Greenway is a privately held company with more than 500 employees. To learn more, visit www.greenwaymedical.com.

About NextGen Healthcare
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., provides integrated clinical, financial and connectivity solutions for ambulatory, inpatient and dental provider organizations. For more information, please visit www.nextgen.com and www.qsii.com. Follow NextGen Healthcare on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nextgen or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NextGenHealthcare.

About Westchester Health Associates
Westchester Health Associates (WHA) is a physician-led multispecialty medical group with over 100 of the area's leading physicians in a large spectrum of medical specialties. WHA has over 45 offices conveniently located throughout Westchester and Putnam. WHA provides state-of-the-art care in a personal, comfortable and compassionate atmosphere. To learn more, please visit www.westchesterhealth.com.

About Prime Columbia Green Medical Associates (PCGMA)
Prime Columbia Greene Medical Associates is an independent, multi-specialty healthcare group that provides efficient, compassionate and high-quality Primary Care and Gastroenterology medical services to adults in the Upstate New York communities of and around Columbia and Greene Counties. To learn more, please visit http://www.pcgma.com.

About HIMSS
HIMSS is a cause-based, not-for-profit organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded 50 years ago, HIMSS and its related organizations are headquartered in Chicago with additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. HIMSS represents more than 38,000 individual members, of which more than two thirds work in healthcare provider, governmental and not-for-profit organizations. HIMSS also includes over 540 corporate members and more than 120 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare practices and public policy through its content expertise, professional development, research initiatives, and media vehicles designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to improving the quality, safety, access, and cost-effectiveness of patient care. To learn more about HIMSS and to find out how to join us and our members in advancing our cause, please visit our website at http://www.himss.org.

SOURCE MedAllies