Agreement Follows Two-Year Pilot That Produced Significant New Cost Savings
and Practice Efficiencies
CHICAGO and WORCESTER, Mass., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Allscripts
(Nasdaq: MDRX), the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and
information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, announced
today that UMass Memorial Health Care has selected the TouchWorks(TM)
Electronic Health Record (EHR) for its 800 employed physicians and 200
independent members of its medical staff.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061005/ALLSCRIPTSLOGO-b )
UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of University of Massachusetts
Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central and Western
Massachusetts. The agreement follows a successful two-year study of the
TouchWorks Electronic Health Record involving 80 physicians at UMass Memorial.
“After realizing significant results from using a scaled down version of
the Electronic Health Record for more than two years, we are convinced that
the full Allscripts solution will have a profound impact on improving the
quality of care and reducing expenses for our employed and staff physicians in
the ambulatory environment,” said John O’Brien, President and Chief Executive
Officer of UMass Memorial Health Care. “This will provide an electronic
dialogue among all the members of a patient’s care team no matter their
location, and help to deliver truly integrated patient care.”
The TouchWorks Electronic Health Record
( https://www.allscripts.com/touchworks ) brings UMass Memorial physicians
instant access to patient information when and where they need it — at the
hospital, in their offices or while on-call at home. TouchWorks automates and
makes safer everyday clinical tasks such as prescribing and refilling
medications, ordering and reviewing tests, and documenting patient care. An
easy-to-use and customizable solution, TouchWorks features robust clinical
tools that support safe medical practices, including health maintenance
alerts, clinical decision support, and automated drug safety checking.
In addition to providing the core Electronic Health Record to 1,000
physicians in the ambulatory setting, UMass Memorial will provide view-only
access to the EHR for all employed caregivers in the system’s three-campus
academic medical center and four community hospitals. “Giving inpatient
providers access to the EHR ensures that if I send my patient in for surgery,
the anesthesiologist, for instance, will know exactly what my patient’s
problems are, what medications they are on, what allergies they have, and
every other piece of clinical information they need to provide the best
possible care,” said William Corbett, M.D., Vice President of Community
Practices.
During a two-year pilot, the Electronic Health Record enhanced patient
care and improved the management of physician practices leading to sharply
lower overhead costs, according to Dr. Corbett. For example, average time
between service and billing was reduced from five days to one, and average
length of Accounts Receivable dropped from 35 days to 22 days.
“The dollar value associated with these improvements is quite significant,
allowing us to provide better care at a lower cost,” said Dr. Corbett.
“Allscripts has proven that they’re a strong, dependable partner with great
people throughout the organization.”
UMass Memorial will integrate TouchWorks with Centricity Business
(formerly IDX(R) Flowcast(R)), the practice management system used by its
employed physicians. Allscripts and IDX, now a part of GE Healthcare, share a
strategic relationship that directly links clinical and financial information
systems to support process redesign and operational enhancements.
“We are extremely proud that UMass Memorial has joined the growing number
of academic medical groups to select Allscripts as their partner on the
electronic healthcare highway,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of
Allscripts. “The UMass Memorial experience confirms that TouchWorks makes
patient care safer and more effective while at the same time allowing for more
cost effective care.”
About UMass Memorial Health Care
UMass Memorial Health Care is the clinical partner of the University of
Massachusetts Medical School and the largest health care system in Central and
Western Massachusetts. The non-profit system encompasses a complete health
care continuum, with a multi-campus academic medical center, member and
affiliated community hospitals, community-based physician practices,
ambulatory clinics, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, hospice
programs, and rehabilitation and behavioral health services. The organization
today is a result of the merger in 1998 of UMass Medical Center and Memorial
Hospital. UMass Memorial today accounts for more than half of the Worcester-
area hospital market. To learn more, visit http://www.umassmemorial.org .
About Allscripts
Allscripts is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and
information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The Company’s
business groups provide unique solutions that inform, connect and transform
healthcare. The Clinical Solutions Group’s award-winning software applications
include electronic health record, practice management, electronic prescribing,
document imaging, emergency department and care management solutions.
Additionally, Allscripts provides clinical product education and connectivity
solutions for physicians and patients through its Physicians Interactive(TM)
Group and medication fulfillment services through its Medication Services
Group. To learn more, visit Allscripts on the Web 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 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K, available through the Web site
maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov .
SOURCE Allscripts
-0- 02/01/2007
/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; or Alison
Duffy, Public Affairs Associate, of UMass Memorial Health Care,
+1-508-856-2000, alison.duffy@umassmed.edu /
/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
https://www.allscripts.com/touchworks /
(MDRX)
CO: Allscripts; UMass Memorial Health Care
ST: Illinois, Massachusetts
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SU: PDT CON
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7620 02/01/2007 09:11 EST http://www.prnewswire.com