Houston, Texas, July 31, 2013 -- Seeking to improve coordination and quality of care, Quest Diagnostics is working with Greater Houston Healthconnect to make laboratory results and records available quickly in electronic format to all connected providers in the region. This will enable practitioners caring for the patient, including the original provider who ordered the test and follow-up caregivers, access to lab values. This will in some cases allow providers to better diagnose, treat, and possibly reduce the need for secondary tests. This is especially helpful for patients who see multiple specialists or are making transitions of care between facilities. Physicians will also be able to order their lab tests and receive results directly into their EMR system through this partnership. Quest Diagnostics is the first major reference lab to collaborate with the region’s health information network, which serves 20 counties.

Boise, IDAHO and Arlington, VA, July 31, 2013 -- When it comes to collaborative care and sharing critical patient data, not all information is created equal. To help solve the most persistent interoperability barriers in every healthcare setting, Inofile is combining its leadership in capturing and transforming unstructured content with Surescripts’ national clinical health information network to advance healthcare.

Little Rock, AR, July 30, 2013 -- The Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT) has partnered with Get Real Health and negotiated a new pricing model to provide Get Real Health’s award-winning patient portal and personal health record (PHR) to Arkansas healthcare providers that participate in the statewide health information exchange (HIE) known as SHARE (State Health Alliance for Records Exchange). The decision makes it easy for Arkansas healthcare organizations of all sizes to meet key patient engagement criteria for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program “Meaningful Use” Stage 2 mandates.

CLAREMONT, N.H., July 30, 2013 -- New Hampshire-based Red River, a leading information technology (IT) services provider, announced a partnership today between Red River Healthcare and EXTENSION, INC., developer of a next generation alarm safety platform for healthcare enabling collaborative communication among caregivers and patients. Red River will work with EXTENSION to address these gaps found among clinical staff in healthcare settings, which will ultimately benefit both caregivers and patients.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-- Qsource and the Tennessee Office of eHealth Initiatives today unveiled next steps in a joint statewide initiative to enhance patient care by helping healthcare providers obtain and share important patient information in faster, more secure ways. As part of the Tennessee Health eShare Direct Project, the partners are introducing Direct Technology for securely exchanging patient data across medical offices, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and other care settings.

DENVER, July 24, 2013 -- CORHIO, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, and Craig Hospital announced today that the specialty hospital is now participating in CORHIO's secure health information exchange (HIE) network. Denver-based Craig Hospital is world-renowned as a premier center for specialty rehabilitation for people with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. Through the HIE connection, patients who are being transferred from another participating Colorado acute care hospital to Craig Hospital will have smoother transitions and be at lower risk for complications, because the details of their electronic medical records will immediately follow them as they transition facilities.

INDIANAPOLIS (July 29, 2013) – Zotec Partners, LLC (“Zotec”), an industry leader in physician’s revenue cycle services, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the stock of Medical Management Professionals, Inc. (“MMP”), a medical billing and practice management company, and a subsidiary of the publicly traded CBIZ, Inc. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, with an anticipated close on or before September 1, 2013.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 25, 2013 -- drchrono, creator of the original Electronic Health Record (EHR) iPad app, announced today that they have been ranked the top EHR for iPad by physicians in Black Book Ranking's 2013 survey and that they would be making the full survey findings available for free to physicians. Black Book, one of the largest independent technology services and market opinion research companies with a dedicated healthcare division, ranked drchrono the top EHR for the iPad based on a survey of 485 EHR vendors used by 16,623 physicians in the United States.

ARLINGTON, Va., July 25, 2013 -- Surescripts, the nation's largest health information network, has expanded its reach by enabling five additional health technology vendors to offer clinical messaging capabilities to their users.  Surescripts' Basic Messaging and Communications product for clinical interoperability will now be offered to all users of Inofile, Greenway, SCI Solutions and Vitera.  SOAPware users will be able to communicate with users on the Surescripts network using a HISP-to-HISP connection. These enhanced capabilities will allow care providers to seamlessly communicate and share important clinical information through a secure and integrated messaging service powered by the Surescripts network.

EAST LANSING, Mich., July 18, 2013  -- Great Lakes Health Information Exchange (GLHIE) has launched an immunization gateway, the first in the State of Michigan to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's requirements for real-time electronic submissions and acknowledgements as mandated by the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR).

PHILADELPHIA, July 22, 2013 -- RightCare Solutions, Inc., an evidence-based technology organization specializing in hospital care transitions and readmission management, announced today that a pivotal study examining the impact of RightCare Solutions' D2S2 care transitions software platform on all-cause 30-day readmissions met its primary endpoint showing a 29% reduction in all-cause 30-day readmission rates in the intervention group.  Consistent with the data reported in previous studies, reductions were seen in high-risk patients at all three hospitals that participated in the study.  Full results will be presented in upcoming presentations and publications.  This study was conducted in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Health System with the goal of improving care coordination and reducing readmissions.  The partnership with RightCare Solutions included the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Pennsylvania Hospital.  By leveraging D2S2, the health system's staff of nurses, clinical resource coordinators, and social workers utilized evidence-based point-of-care software to improve and enhance patient outcomes.

Springfield, MO, July 17, 2013 -- The TrustHCS Academy has successfully graduated its first class of coding students. The growing deficit of coders needed to fill demand leading up to and looking beyond ICD-10 implementation was the driving force behind the TrustHCS Academy launch.

PHILADELPHIA, July 16, 2013 -- Physicians in the U.S. are struggling with managing shifting reimbursement models with payers (91 percent), financial management (90 percent) and spending time with patients (88 percent) as the top three business challenges, according to a new survey from Wolters Kluwer Health. Financial management challenges are coming from increasing costs, healthcare IT adoption and the Affordable Care Act/increasing legislation.

CLEVELAND, July 15, 2013 -- Healthcare organizations from around the world will meet at Hyland Software on July 16 and 17 for the seventh annual OnBase/Epic User Forum. Designed to help healthcare providers address evolving organizational challenges, attendees will learn about the product road map, industry trends and best practices. OnBase users and experts from Hyland Software and Epic will share their experience integrating the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) solution with the Epic electronic medical record (EMR). Integrating Registration, Revenue Cycle Management and EMR solutions enables healthcare providers to connect information across all departments within the organization, centralizing patient information and improving departmental efficiencies.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Health care prices grew 1.0 percent in May 2013 relative to May 2012, the lowest rate in our data series, which extends back to January 1990. The 12-month moving average, at 1.7 percent, is the lowest since the same reading was recorded in September 1998. National health expenditures, which combines prices and utilization, grew 4.2 percent in May, and revised data for the first quarter of 2013 put spending growth at 3.8 percent, below the record low levels seen annually since 2009.

Weymouth, MA, July 10, 2013 -- Beacon Partners, a leading healthcare management consulting firm, and Information Builders, a leader in business intelligence (BI) and analytics, information integrity, and integration solutions, today announced the formation of a strategic business partnership. Information Builders provides healthcare organizations with a complete BI and analytics solution – and has now added Beacon Partners as an integral component in this effort. Beacon Partners will help its customers leverage Information Builders software to meet the integration, intelligence, and data integrity challenges of electronic medical records (EMR), clinical transformation, and consumer engagement.

WICHITA, Kan., July 12, 2013 -- Integrated Solutions Group, Inc. (ISG), a Hutchinson-based corporation and parent company of Professional Data Services, Inc., (PDS) has acquired Data Strategies, Inc. (DSI) out of Poway, Calif. The acquisition will significantly grow the company's foothold in the electronic health records (EHR) industry and position it as a national player within the ambulatory medical practice community.

Lake Forest, IL (PRWEB) July 10, 2013 -- The healthcare arena has been bombarded with significant changes affecting every aspect of the industry. Most of the new government programs, directives and regulations have required hefty changes to workflows, processes and finances. However, none have seemed to positively affect revenues. Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc. provides a solution. A revenue generating solution.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 10, 2013 -- According to a recent IMS Health study, poor medication use by clinicians and patients costs $200 billion each year in the U.S., or 8 percent of all U.S. healthcare expenditures. To improve medication use and safety, MedSnap, LLC introduces MedSnap ID, an iPhone® application for clinicians, health systems, hospitals, clinics, ACOs, pharmacies and home health providers. MedSnap ID uses computer vision technology to quickly identify an entire set of patient pills and screen them for safety. 

PLANO, Texas-- Dell is the leading provider of healthcare information technology services globally, based on a recent Gartner report.1 The ranking, which is based on 2012 revenue, marks the third consecutive year Dell has achieved the No. 1 ranking for healthcare services.

CARROLLTON, Ga.-- Greenway Medical Technologies and Epic Systems have achieved interoperability between their solutions to improve care coordination for the thousands of patients two of their customers in Lancaster, PA treat in common. The electronic health record (EHR) systems of both companies are exchanging industry-standard Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs) between a large OB/GYN practice and the local hospital-based health system, securely sharing vital information to better coordinate care in their community of health.