A Medical Device Daily

Ontario Systems (Muncie, Indiana), a provider of revenue cycle management and collection management solutions for the health care and debt management industries, reported a new strategic alliance with Microsoft (Redmond, Washington) that it says will strengthen its services and products.

By incorporating the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform into its software suite, Ontario Systems' clients will experience a more robust product line, greater efficiencies of scale, and a better-quality product – all driven by Microsoft's world-class technology, according to Ontario.

Through Microsoft's platform, Ontario clients will improve their overall cash flow and realize cost reductions and operational efficiencies. The alliance also will help Ontario clients successfully unlock cash, a tough feat in today's economic environment, the company noted.

"Retrieving cash in tough economic times takes innovation, market power and technological advancements," said Ontario President/CEO Tony Reisz. "A strategic alliance like this one, between two market powerhouses, is what the industry needs to drive real change. Besides creating and delivering the next generation in receivables management, the Microsoft platform enables us to add powerful new advanced offerings in data integration, business intelligence, and communications - all key elements in helping our customers achieve their number one goal: reclaiming outstanding debt."

"Ontario Systems is adopting the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform to help deliver high-value solutions across high-growth receivables management markets," said Brad Wilson, general manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. "Our platform is designed to help partners like Ontario Systems accelerate their time to market and focus their deep industry expertise on the solution."

In other agreements/contracts news:

• Oxygen Biotherapeutics (Costa Mesa, California) said it has signed a research and development agreement with the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC; Silver Spring, Maryland) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Washington), federal laboratories of the Department of Defense.

The company said it would provide information that would be used by NMRC and Walter Reed for preparation, writing, and submission to the FDA of an investigational new drug application for the use of Oxycyte for the treatment of decompression sickness. Oxycyte is the company's perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier.

Oxygen Biotherapeutics is developing pharmaceuticals and medical devices in the field of oxygen therapeutics and defense medicine. The company has under development a perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier and liquid ventilation product (Oxycyte) and has out-licensed an implantable glucose sensor.

• Quest Diagnostics (Madison, New Jersey) said it would enable patients and their physicians to share diagnostic laboratory test results using Microsoft HealthVault. According to the company, the connection will enable physicians who use Quest Diagnostics' Care360 patient-centric physician portal to securely transfer, at a patient's request, diagnostic laboratory test results in a HIPAA-compliant format into the patient's protected account. Patients will be able to use their account to access current and historical diagnostic laboratory records from their physicians.

Quest provides diagnostic testing, information and services. Microsoft HealthVault allows users to store, organize and manage their medical records and personal health information online.