A Medical Device Daily
National Digital Medical Archive (NDMA; Berwyn, Pennsylvania) and Apollo PACS (Falls Church, Virginia) reported a collaboration on product integration initiatives that support the "seamless" delivery of pathology imaging across diverse enterprises. The initiatives will incorporate pathology images and related report information to an electronic patient record that can be accessed remotely.
Apollo PACS and NDMA will combine their systems to create a family of solutions designed to enable facilities to better manage, archive, share, process and view pathology images.
"Delivering enterprise access to pathology images in a safe and efficient way has always come at the compromise of speed, quality or cost," said Derek Danois, president, NDMA.
The NDMA has developed a data management and communications infrastructure that is designed to enable on-demand access, visualization and distribution of diagnostic quality images and related clinical data.
Apollo PACS is a private company, incorporated in Delaware, that provides pathology PACS Solutions designed to enable end-to-end laboratory image process solutions to manage diagnostic case workflow.
In other agreements news:
• Hill-Rom IT Solutions (Batesville, Indiana) and SAS (Cary, North Carolina), a software developer, said they will partner to develop integrated reporting and analytic technology within Hill-Rom's healthcare applications. The move is designed to help Hill-Rom customers better access and analyze patient and operations data.
Hill-Rom provides offerings ranging from information technology (IT) and patient and workflow solutions to patient care beds, therapy surfaces and stretchers. SAS, a leader in business intelligence, provides an enterprise intelligence platform that includes data management, analytics and reporting software.
Beginning with its NaviCare Solutions, a solution for managing patient flow metrics and staff efficiency, Hill-Rom is introducing SAS-powered enhancements to its reporting and dashboard offerings. The companies said such systems are expected not only to help health care providers gain "big picture" insight into key performance indicators and metrics related to patient flow and staff efficiency, but also will drill down into the details for deeper process evaluation and outcome improvement.
Beta trials have been scheduled to focus on targeted results-based metrics and program outcomes.
• ChartOne (Burlington, Massachusetts), a provider of on-demand medical record solutions, said it has partnered with Access (Sulphur Springs, Texas), a supplier of hospital electronic forms solutions, to offer hospitals an end-to-end electronic health record solution.
Beginning at patient registration and continuing to discharge and beyond, hospitals can now create, store and view complete, legal electronic health records with greater efficiency and minimal change to existing work processes.
ChartOne's eWebHeath Suite is designed to make medical records available on demand via the Web, both by digitizing existing paper records and by integrating electronic information from software used throughout the hospital. Access forms management technology is designed to automate any hospital form, facilitating data collection, automatic updating and electronic signature. Used in tandem, the solutions are expected unify medical record information from any source into one integrated, entirely secure electronic whole, allowing hospitals to achieve a paperless environment.
ChartOne will sell, and the two companies will jointly market, their solutions and pursue further integration opportunities.
Access' flagship product, Patient Flow System Technology, supports applications such as electronic document distribution, forms automation, records management, and patient documentation security.
• USA Mobility (Alexandria, Virginia) and Amcom Software (Minneapolis) reported a sales and marketing alliance in which the companies will leverage their respective technologies to provide advanced automated wireless communication capabilities to healthcare organizations.
Both sales organizations will co-market, co-sell and provide referrals for their mutual products. Healthcare facilities are expected to benefit with a complete, integrated wireless and communication center technology to automate day-to-day and emergency communications within a multi-facility hospital network.
As part of a pilot project last fall, USA Mobility and Amcom completed an integrated solution for Duke University Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina).