Banner Health Selects Allscripts Care Management for Eight Hospitals
20-Hospital Chain to Implement Web-based Discharge Planning Solution, Create Alliance of Post-Acute Facilities to Receive Patient Referrals
CHICAGO and PHOENIX (February 27, 2008) –
Allscripts, the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, announced today that Banner Health will implement the Allscripts Care Management discharge planning solution at six Phoenix-area and two Colorado hospitals to streamline patient movement through the hospital and enhance patient care following discharge. The Allscripts solution will help Banner send more patients to a “care alliance” of select post-acute facilities that meet Banner’s stringent quality requirements.
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Banner Health is one of the largest non-profit care systems in the country, with 20 hospitals and other facilities in seven Western states that offer an array of services including hospital care, home care and hospice care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories and rehabilitation. Allscripts will automate Banner’s formerly paper-based process of discharging hospital patients to post-acute care facilities, eliminating information bottlenecks and helping to ensure continuity of care at the highest quality facilities.
“Our commitment to our patients continues long after they leave one of our facilities, and Allscripts allows us to connect electronically with dozens of nursing homes and home care agencies to find the best fit for discharged patients who need further care,” said Linda Stutz, RN, MBA, Banner’s System Director for Case Management Services. “This technology lets the patient make a faster, more informed choice while enabling us to electronically exchange critical medical information with post-acute facilities to ensure the patient continues to receive high quality care.”
By automating the process of referring discharged patients to post-acute facilities, Allscripts eliminates the cumbersome and costly process of case managers manually phoning and faxing to secure post-acute care services one provider at a time. Allscripts enables a detailed electronic referral to be sent to selected locations across its proprietary network of 90,000 providers, and interested facilities reply, often within minutes. The patient and family then receive a discharge packet that details their facility choices, making their decision more transparent and informed. The solution will enable the referral of patients to a new alliance of post-acute facilities that meet Banner’s quality thresholds.
“As our population continues to age, leading hospitals are focusing on creating a seamless transition to the long-term care facilities that provide the next level of care for so many patients,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “Every time a case manager or discharge planner picks up the phone or waits by a fax machine, it erodes the quality of care patients receive and costs hospitals time and money. Allscripts is helping Banner Health solve these problems by providing connectivity with critical post-acute facilities.”
Allscripts discharge planning is a key element of the company’s industry-defining Care Management solution, which is deployed in more than 600 hospitals nationwide. Allscripts Care Management combines the best features from the company’s Canopy(R) care management software with technology from Extended Care Information Network, Inc. (ECIN), which Allscripts recently acquired. The web-based “software as a service” solution automates and streamlines the entire care management process in hospitals, from admission through discharge, resulting in increased productivity, improved patient throughput and better outcomes.
The Banner facilities that will deploy the Allscripts solution include Banner Gateway Medical Center, Banner Baywood Medical Center, Banner Desert Medical Center, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Banner Estrella Medical Center, and Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, all in the Phoenix area; and Banner’s Colorado facilities McKee Medical Center and Northern Colorado Medical Center.
About Banner Health
From Alaska to Arizona, Banner Health’s dedicated medical professionals are fulfilling their mission of providing excellent patient care to thousands of people in need through hospital care, home care, hospice care, long-term care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories and rehabilitation services. Based in Phoenix, Ariz., Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country, with 20 facilities, more than 3,000 licensed acute care beds, nearly 200,000 annual admissions, and more than 500,000 annual emergency department visits. On the Web at http://www.bannerhealth.com.
About Allscripts
Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The company’s unique solutions inform, connect and transform healthcare, delivering improved care at lower cost. More than 40,000 physicians and thousands of other healthcare professionals in clinics and hospitals nationwide utilize Allscripts to automate and connect everyday tasks such as writing prescriptions, documenting patient care, managing billing and scheduling, and safely discharging patients. To learn more, visit Allscripts 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 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K, available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.
SOURCE Allscripts
-0- 02/27/2008
/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/
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http://www.bannerhealth.com /
(MDRX)
CO: Allscripts; Banner Health
ST: Illinois, Arizona
IN: CPR STW HEA
SU: CON
KS-DE
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2239 02/27/2008 09:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
Source: Allscripts
