– More Features Improve Usability, Clarity and Sets Stage for Further Growth –
KALISPELL , MT / NASHVILLE, TN – August 17, 2011 – Informatics Corporation of America (ICA, www.icainformatics.com) and the Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM) announced today that as of June 6, 2011, it has upgraded three hospitals and one Community Health Center in northwestern Montana to ICA’s CareAlign® HIE solution. ICA is providing the technology and infrastructure for a multi-facility regional health information exchange (HIE) that will ultimately include over 30 medical facilities serving a population of more than 150,000 people widely dispersed over 13,800 square miles of mountainous terrain that poses challenges to providing effective and efficient healthcare.
Kip Smith, Executive Director of Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM), said, “Upgrading and expanding our use of CareAlign will help us to increase our participant base and functionality, improving service to our physicians and the patient population that rely on the HIEM to provide the exchange and flow of clinical information when and where it is needed. This newer, more advanced platform has expanded our database capacity and provides security enhancements that will allow streamlined migrations to further upgrades and, in turn, more powerful care coordination.”
The enhanced CareAlign platform capabilities include:
• An improved and updated user interface
• A stronger authentication process which enhances security through a question and answer method similar to what is used in banking
• A password recovery feature which helps users who have forgotten their password
• Changes to enable a more efficient laboratory result review
• Advanced display for HIPAA indicators improving clarity and usability
Initial participants in the expanded HIE use will be North Valley Hospital in Whitefish; St. John’s Lutheran Hospital in Libby; Northwest Community Health Center in Libby; and Kalispell Regional Medical Center in Kalispell. “The HIEM has been a pioneer in the use of HIE nationally, especially as it relates to use in broad geographic regions,” said John Tempesco, Chief Marketing Officer at ICA. “Upgrading to a newer version of CareAlign will enable substantial improvement in the ability of clinical personnel to provide the highest quality care coordination to the patients in the region who are participating in the exchange. With every release of the CareAlign platform, ICA strives to improve usability, expandability and security to drive adoption, cost effectiveness and confidence in the solution.”
The HIEM is a not-for-profit healthcare organization located in Kalispell, Montana. Six hospitals, two Community Health Centers and over 25 clinics comprise the area’s healthcare system, including Glacier Community Health Center, HealthCenter Northwest, Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Northwest Community Health Center, North Valley Hospital, Northern Rockies Medical Center, St. John’s Lutheran Hospital, St. Luke Community Healthcare, and a number of owned and independent physician clinics. All have disparate legacy healthcare information technology on various platforms and in different locations.
About The HIEM
Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM) is a not-for-profit organization located in Kalispell, Montana. It is a network of hospitals and health clinics located in northwest and north central Montana. The purpose of HIEM is to provide a means through which individuals and organizations may collaborate to improve access and delivery of health information services to residents of the northwest Montana region. The organization plans to develop projects to create a more coordinated and integrated system of services to improve and increase access to healthcare, reduce duplication of services, and increase efficiency in providing healthcare to the populace of northwest Montana and surrounding regions.
About Informatics Corporation of America (ICA)
Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) was established to take innovative technology developed by Vanderbilt Medical Center to the broader healthcare market and now delivers a comprehensive HIE solution to hospitals, IDNs, communities and states. Unmatched in its ability to yield cost efficiency, improved patient care, and better outcomes, ICA’s CareAlign solution captures complete data to enhance the decision making process. ICA’s CareAlign intelligence engine empowers HIEs to leverage existing core systems to construct a longitudinal patient record. CareAlign also features provider/patient portals, secure clinical communication, NHIN compliant interoperability, EHR-lite and population management tools. Visit www.icainformatics.com; follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/icainformatics; and Facebook: www.facebook.com
