“EHR Stimulus Alliance” Includes Allscripts, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Intel,
Intuit, Microsoft Corp., and Nuance; Will Deliver Education Programs Across
the U.S.
CHICAGO, May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Allscripts today announced the
formation of a coalition of technology innovation leaders who are partnering
to educate 500,000 U.S. physicians about opportunities aligned with the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The Act details
President Obama’s plan to improve healthcare quality, safety and efficiency
through the secure exchange of electronic health information and the adoption
of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and associated technologies. By connecting
physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, payers, public health organizations and
other stakeholders across healthcare, information technologies such as the EHR
can improve the management of chronic health conditions that account for about
75 percent of U.S. healthcare costs, and enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of U.S. healthcare.
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The EHR Stimulus Alliance(TM) – which includes Allscripts, Cisco, Citrix,
Dell, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft Corp., and Nuance – marks the first nationwide
campaign by a broad coalition of healthcare and technology companies to help
physicians explore opportunities associated with the ARRA. Alliance members
are sponsoring The EHR Stimulus Tour(TM), a significant education program with
hundreds of planned virtual and physical events for physicians in cities
across the U.S.
“Encouraging every physician to use electronic health records is essential
to achieving President Obama’s goal of a safer, higher quality healthcare
system at a price we can afford,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer
of Allscripts, which is leading the Alliance. “The EHR Stimulus Alliance
marks a major step forward in helping more physicians to understand their
options for entering the electronic healthcare highway.”
Surveys indicate that, while large numbers of physicians are familiar with
the basic tenets of the federal incentive program, many do not know the
details, including how much money they are eligible to receive, when it will
be allocated, how they can qualify, how to meet ARRA’s requirements for
information exchange, or the cost of implementing an Electronic Health
Records. The EHR Stimulus Tour will provide the answers via executive
briefings, roundtables, trade show presentations, webcasts, and local meetings
bringing physicians together with Alliance experts and medical groups that
have already successfully adopted Electronic Health Records.
Signed into law on February 17, 2009, the ARRA provides physicians a
maximum of between $44,000 and $64,000 in incentives for adopting and
demonstrating “meaningful use” of an Electronic Health Record beginning in
fiscal 2011. Recent studies have demonstrated that physicians who use a
connected Electronic Health Record believe the technology dramatically
improves the practice of medicine. One such survey of 2,758 physicians,
published in the June 18, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine,
found that physicians who use a fully functional Electronic Health Record
reported the system positively affects the quality of their clinical decisions
(82 percent), their ability to avoid medication errors (86 percent), their
communication with other providers (97 percent) and patients (72 percent),
timely access to medical records (97 percent), and the delivery of long-term
and preventive care that meets clinical guidelines (82-85 percent).
Under the ARRA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will
pay the incentives to physicians over five years, beginning in fiscal 2011.
Physicians who have not adopted certified Electronic Health Record systems by
2014 will have their Medicare reimbursements reduced by 1 percent beginning in
2015; 2 percent in 2016; and by up to 3 percent in 2017 and thereafter.
According to a Congressional Budget Office review of the law, the incentives
will drive up to 90 percent of U.S. physicians to adopt Electronic Health
Records in the next decade.
Alliance Members
The broad cross-section of EHR Stimulus Alliance members have unique
experiences, insights and solutions that are vitally important in helping
physicians adopt Electronic Health Records and connect with their patients and
all stakeholders to improve the clinical or financial aspects of care.
Allscripts, the nation’s largest publicly-traded Electronic Health Record
provider, uses innovation technology to help physicians and their patients
Connect to Health(TM) – improving quality, eliminating errors and lowering
costs.
Cisco prepares physician offices for EHR technology with reliable secure
connectivity, network assessments and help in unlocking the value of an EHR
with integrated communication and collaboration capabilities.
- “We are pleased to take part in this alliance, which is an important
step in the effort to make information technology an integral part of
the healthcare experience,” said Kaveh Safavi, Vice President, Global
Healthcare Practice, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group. “We are
entering a healthcare industry transformation. New Internet-based
technology solutions address a significant barrier to EHR adoption.
Patients need to trust that the information they make available to
physicians will be private and highly secure.”
Citrix simplifies the ability to deliver information and applications
remotely with the same look, feel, performance and security regardless of the
physician’s location or end device. With Citrix, healthcare professionals can
always have electronic health records close at hand.
- “Citrix provides secure and mobile access to electronic data, which is
critical for electronic health records and to healthcare professionals
in any setting,” said Carlos Ramos, director of health and human
services for Citrix Government, Education & Health. “This alliance
gives us an unprecedented opportunity to share this data security with
hospitals, physicians and mobile caregivers across the country.”
Dell provides healthcare IT solutions that improve quality and efficiency
and reduce cost.
- “In a recent survey about stimulus funds, our healthcare customers
told us they need clearer and more customized information about ARRA
funds and how to address their IT challenges,” said Dr. James Coffin,
vice president and general manager, Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences.
“Dell is developing solutions that will make the adoption and
integration of healthcare IT as simple and cost-effective as possible
to improve the quality of care and help clinical practices meet
requirements for ARRA funding.”
Intel highlights the importance of high performance computing and mobility
at the point of care for an EHR solution.
- “We have long believed that deployment of standards-based IT
technologies can streamline processes and create efficiencies in
healthcare, ultimately providing the highest quality of care at the
lowest cost,” said Louis Burns, general manager of Intel’s Digital
Health Group. “The Allscripts Stimulus Alliance provides an
opportunity for our industry to work with physicians, understand their
unique needs and provide them the information they need to deploy
electronic health records and e-prescribing technologies today.”
Intuit’s Quicken Health Group is working with health plans, employers and
physicians on solutions to make the financial side of healthcare easier and is
working with Allscripts on a new solution, scheduled to be available in the
summer of 2009 that will benefit practices and patients. Today, thousands of
practices use Intuit solutions like QuickBooks(R) financial software, payroll
solutions, Web site solutions, payment processing and QuickBase(R) to make
their business more efficient.
- “At Intuit, simplifying complex tasks for people is what we do best,
and we know that managing healthcare finances is especially difficult
for both patients and providers,” said Peter Karpas, senior vice
president and general manager for the Quicken Health Group. “As part
of this alliance, we have an opportunity to share our unique patient
insights with physicians in an effort to help them get paid faster and
increase patient satisfaction, enabling them to spend more time
focusing on providing the best care.”
Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through
software innovation. In addition to the Amalga Unified Intelligence System and
HealthVault consumer web platform, Microsoft collaborates with industry
partners such as Allscripts to help unify health information and make it more
readily available, ensuring quality of life and affordable care for everyone.
- “The time is now for all providers, especially physicians, to begin
adopting EHRs and liberating data trapped in paper records or isolated
in siloed systems,” said Steve Aylward, general manager of U.S. Health
& Life Sciences, Microsoft Corp. “Working with Allscripts, Microsoft
is committed to helping providers reduce the need for redundant
paperwork and testing, making it easier to retrieve digital radiology
images, patient history, prescription information and more. By
unlocking data and delivering it to patients through a
consumer-controlled personal health record, we can enable improved
decision-making and enhance the continuity of care.”
Nuance enables EHRs to seamlessly convert voice into text. From free-form
clinician dictation to customized voice shortcuts, Nuance’s speech recognition
technology helps capture physician narrative as part of the EHR to promote
meaningful use and ongoing higher quality care while eliminating clinician
reliance on typing or manual transcription.
- “The EHR Stimulus Alliance is a unified movement toward turning the
national dialogue surrounding the EHR transition into action,” said
John Shagoury, president, Nuance Healthcare. “Each of the partners
involved has unique solutions that are crucial to EHR implementation.
In our case, speech recognition technology helps increase the
meaningful use and efficiency of EHRs by decreasing physician reliance
on the keyboard and mouse. By providing speech recognition as an EHR
documentation option, medical records are more complete with a
detailed clinical history and care plan specific information and are
not reduced to point-and-click templates alone. Because most doctors
speak at least three times faster than they type, speech recognition
makes it possible to get things done more quickly by voice in the EHR
than by relying on keyboards and mice alone.”
Interested physicians and office administrators can register to take part
in The EHR Stimulus Tour by visiting the tour website www.EHRStimulusTour.com
or by calling the EHR Stimulus Education hotline: 877-EHRNOW1. Additionally,
the tour website provides valuable information such as legislative updates,
FAQs, resources from Alliance members, and summaries of all of the summer Tour
stops.
About Allscripts
Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) uses innovation technology to bring health to
healthcare. More than 150,000 physicians, 700 hospitals and nearly 7,000
post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health
of their patients and their bottom line. The company’s award-winning
solutions include electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue
cycle management, practice management, document management, medication
services, hospital care management, emergency department information systems
and homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of Allscripts-Misys
Healthcare Solutions, Inc. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that
transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about
Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About Dell
Dell listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services
they trust and value. Dell serves those who serve with next generation
infrastructure for healthcare.
About Intel’s Digital Health Group
Intel’s Digital Health Group is committed to delivering research-based
innovation for healthcare. Informed by more than a decade of ethnographic
studies, we share a vision with healthcare leaders of using innovative
technologies to transform healthcare, improve chronic disease management, and
enhance wellness and independence. We develop new health technologies for
individuals in the home or on the go, and collaborate with healthcare
professionals to enable seamless interaction and information exchange. We help
to connect people and information in new ways that increase patient care and
safety, reduce healthcare costs, and improve quality of life across the
continuum of care
About Intuit, Inc.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is a leading provider of business and financial
management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial
institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting
professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks(R),
Quicken(R) and TurboTax(R), simplify small business management and payroll
processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries(R) and
Lacerte(R) are Intuit’s leading tax preparation offerings for professional
accountants. The company’s financial institutions division, anchored by
Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit
unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.1 billion in its fiscal
year 2008. The company has approximately 8,000 employees with major offices in
the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other locations. More
information can be found at www.intuit.com.
About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for
businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and
services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way
people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents.
Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s
proven applications and professional services. For more information, please
visit www.nuance.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events,
developments, the Company’s future performance, as well as management’s
expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to
the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws.
These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, actual results
may vary materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements.
Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: the
volume and timing of systems sales and installations; length of sales cycles
and the installation process; the possibility that products will not achieve
or sustain market acceptance; the timing, cost and success or failure of new
product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases;
competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional
activities; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships;
undetected errors or similar problems in our software products; compliance
with existing laws, regulations and industry initiatives and future changes in
laws or regulations in the healthcare industry; possible regulation of the
Company’s software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the possibility
of product-related liabilities; our ability to attract and retain qualified
personnel; our ability to identify and complete acquisitions, manage our
growth and integrate acquisitions; the ability to recognize the benefits of
the merger with Misys Healthcare Systems, LLC (“MHS”); the integration of MHS
with the Company and the possible disruption of current plans and operations
as a result thereof; maintaining our intellectual property rights and
litigation involving intellectual property rights; risks related to
third-party suppliers; our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate
third-party licensed technology; breach of our security by third parties; and
the risk factors detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 2007 Annual Report on Form
10-K available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange
Commission at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Allscripts – 05/14/2009
CONTACT: Todd Stein, Senior Manager, Public Relations, +1-312-506-1216,
todd.stein@allscripts.com,
or Dan Michelson, Chief Marketing Officer,
+1-312-506-1217, dan.michelson@allscripts.com
Web Site: http://www.ehrstimulustour.com
https://www.allscripts.com
(MDRX CSCO INTU)