UMass Memorial Health Care Selects Allscripts Electronic Health Record for 1,000 Physicians
Agreement Follows Two-Year Pilot That Produced Significant New Cost Savings and Practice Efficiencies
CHICAGO and WORCESTER, Mass., (February 01, 2007) –
Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX), the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, announced today that UMass Memorial Health Care has selected the TouchWorks(TM) Electronic Health Record (EHR) for its 800 employed physicians and 200 independent members of its medical staff.
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UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central and Western Massachusetts. The agreement follows a successful two-year study of the TouchWorks Electronic Health Record involving 80 physicians at UMass Memorial.
“After realizing significant results from using a scaled down version of the Electronic Health Record for more than two years, we are convinced that the full Allscripts solution will have a profound impact on improving the quality of care and reducing expenses for our employed and staff physicians in the ambulatory environment,” said John O’Brien, President and Chief Executive Officer of UMass Memorial Health Care. “This will provide an electronic dialogue among all the members of a patient’s care team no matter their location, and help to deliver truly integrated patient care.”
The TouchWorks Electronic Health Record ( http://www.allscripts.com/touchworks ) brings UMass Memorial physicians instant access to patient information when and where they need it — at the hospital, in their offices or while on-call at home. TouchWorks automates and makes safer everyday clinical tasks such as prescribing and refilling medications, ordering and reviewing tests, and documenting patient care. An easy-to-use and customizable solution, TouchWorks features robust clinical tools that support safe medical practices, including health maintenance alerts, clinical decision support, and automated drug safety checking.
In addition to providing the core Electronic Health Record to 1,000 physicians in the ambulatory setting, UMass Memorial will provide view-only access to the EHR for all employed caregivers in the system’s three-campus academic medical center and four community hospitals. “Giving inpatient providers access to the EHR ensures that if I send my patient in for surgery, the anesthesiologist, for instance, will know exactly what my patient’s problems are, what medications they are on, what allergies they have, and every other piece of clinical information they need to provide the best possible care,” said William Corbett, M.D., Vice President of Community Practices.
During a two-year pilot, the Electronic Health Record enhanced patient care and improved the management of physician practices leading to sharply lower overhead costs, according to Dr. Corbett. For example, average time between service and billing was reduced from five days to one, and average length of Accounts Receivable dropped from 35 days to 22 days.
“The dollar value associated with these improvements is quite significant, allowing us to provide better care at a lower cost,” said Dr. Corbett. “Allscripts has proven that they’re a strong, dependable partner with great people throughout the organization.”
UMass Memorial will integrate TouchWorks with Centricity Business (formerly IDX(R) Flowcast(R)), the practice management system used by its employed physicians. Allscripts and IDX, now a part of GE Healthcare, share a strategic relationship that directly links clinical and financial information systems to support process redesign and operational enhancements.
“We are extremely proud that UMass Memorial has joined the growing number of academic medical groups to select Allscripts as their partner on the electronic healthcare highway,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “The UMass Memorial experience confirms that TouchWorks makes patient care safer and more effective while at the same time allowing for more cost effective care.”
About UMass Memorial Health Care
UMass Memorial Health Care is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest health care system in Central and Western Massachusetts. The non-profit system encompasses a complete health care continuum, with a multi-campus academic medical center, member and affiliated community hospitals, community-based physician practices, ambulatory clinics, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, hospice programs, and rehabilitation and behavioral health services. The organization today is a result of the merger in 1998 of UMass Medical Center and Memorial Hospital. UMass Memorial today accounts for more than half of the Worcester- area hospital market. To learn more, visit http://www.umassmemorial.org .
About Allscripts
Allscripts is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The Company’s business groups provide unique solutions that inform, connect and transform healthcare. The Clinical Solutions Group’s award-winning software applications include electronic health record, practice management, electronic prescribing, document imaging, emergency department and care management solutions. Additionally, Allscripts provides clinical product education and connectivity solutions for physicians and patients through its Physicians Interactive(TM) Group and medication fulfillment services through its Medication Services Group. To learn more, visit Allscripts on the Web at http://www.allscripts.com .
This announcement may contain forward-looking statements about Allscripts Healthcare Solutions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are developed by combining currently available information with Allscripts beliefs and assumptions. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance. Because Allscripts cannot predict all of the risks and uncertainties that may affect it, or control the ones it does predict, Allscripts’ actual results may be materially different from the results expressed in its forward-looking statements. For a more complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may affect Allscripts, see the Company’s 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K, available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov .
SOURCE Allscripts
-0- 02/01/2007
/CONTACT: Dan Michelson, Chief Marketing Officer, +1-312-506-1217,
dan.michelson@allscripts.com , or Todd Stein, Senior Manager-Public Relations,
+1-312-506-1216, todd.stein@allscripts.com , both of Allscripts; or Alison
Duffy, Public Affairs Associate, of UMass Memorial Health Care,
+1-508-856-2000, alison.duffy@umassmed.edu /
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/Web site: http://www.allscripts.com
http://www.allscripts.com/touchworks /
(MDRX)
CO: Allscripts; UMass Memorial Health Care
ST: Illinois, Massachusetts
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7620 02/01/2007 09:11 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
Source: Allscripts
