20-Hospital Chain to Implement Web-based Discharge Planning Solution, Create
Alliance of Post-Acute Facilities to Receive Patient Referrals
CHICAGO and PHOENIX, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — 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.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061005/ALLSCRIPTSLOGO-b)
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 https://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/
/Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061005/ALLSCRIPTSLOGO-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
/Web site: https://www.allscripts.com
http://www.bannerhealth.com /
(MDRX)
CO: Allscripts; Banner Health
ST: Illinois, Arizona
IN: CPR STW HEA
SU: CON
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2239 02/27/2008 09:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com