Initiate Systems Introduces Health Information Exchange Solution for Hospitals and...

Initiate Systems Introduces Health Information Exchange Solution for Hospitals and IDNs

Offering Helps Healthcare Organizations Improve Interoperability,
Increase Patient and Provider Satisfaction
CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
Initiate Systems, Inc., a leader in master data management (MDM)
and enterprise master person index (EMPI) solutions, today introduced
the Initiate(R) Health Information Exchange for Hospitals and
Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) solution, designed to serve as a
foundation for connecting data within and between healthcare networks.
With this foundation in place, healthcare organizations will be able
to share patient and provider data within and across their ecosystem
in order to support more accurate, consolidated views.

The Initiate Health Information Exchange solution indexes patient
records from multiple disparate sources across the environment,
enabling strategic initiatives like electronic health records (EHR)
and clinical portals, while helping to improve efficiencies, increase
patient and provider satisfaction, reduce errors that result from poor
data quality, and create an interoperable environment that allows
organizations to better serve their communities. It can also help
healthcare organizations save millions of dollars in administrative
costs.

"The Initiate Health Information Exchange solution, as the name
implies, is the convergence of two very broad concepts within the
healthcare ecosystem," said Lorraine Fernandes, vice president,
healthcare industry ambassador, Initiate Systems.

'Health Information,' Fernandes explained, refers to all types of
data that a hospital or IDN might wish to exchange, from clinical to
financial to administrative data. The data might be rendered in a
standard format (like HL7) or it might be unstructured data.
'Exchange' refers to the ability to send and receive that data with
another organization or with other departments or systems within the
same organization.

"Health information exchange within and among healthcare
organizations is one of the greatest challenges IDNs, regional health
organizations (RHIOs) and payers face," Fernandes said. "Providing a
connection between the vast amount of data that exists in silos - and
serving as a foundation for successful data exchange - is precisely
the challenge we're helping our customers solve."

The Initiate(R) Health Information Exchange solution can help
hospitals and IDNs:

-- Realize the benefits of health information exchange (HIE) by
serving as a foundational component of clinical portal,
integration and EHR implementations. The Initiate Health
Information Exchange solution helps increase accuracy in the
way clinical results are distributed to the greater provider
community.

-- Share patient information - demographic, registration and
insurance information - between hospitals, clinics and health
plans, so patients only need to submit information once

-- Enhance the quality of patient information by identifying and
linking records from multiple, disparate sources across the
exchange environment

"There is increasing pressure on Care Delivery Organizations
(CDOs) to keep up with physician and patient demands," said Kristen
Wilson-Jones, vice president, Data and Online Services, Sutter Health.
"Leading hospitals are starting to see the creation of a proprietary
HIE as a way to keep up with that demand and, in turn, increase brand
loyalty among referring physicians and patients. The Initiate HIE has
been an integral component in Sutter's ability to deliver in this
competitive healthcare environment."

Initiate HIE Technology and Partners

Initiate Health Information Exchange for Hospitals and IDNs is
based on Initiate Master Data Service(TM) technology - a comprehensive
master data platform that provides identity matching and management,
data modeling, information quality management, data sharing,
relationship and hierarchy management, and multi-lingual integration
and synchronization capabilities. Working within the existing HIE
environment, the technology provides more confidence in the accuracy
and integrity of a health organization's clinical and administrative
records, and can help hospitals and IDNs promote patient and provider
satisfaction.

Partners such as AGFA HealthCare, Allscripts, Carefx, Covisint,
Healthvision, Wellogic and others integrate with Initiate Systems to
enable accurate patient and provider identification across EMR
integration, clinical portals and other applications within the
exchange ecosystem. IBM, Intel Corporation and Oracle, in
collaboration with Initiate Systems, have each created HIE frameworks
or bundled solutions that leverage Initiate Systems technology to
provide comprehensive information about the right patient at the point
of care.

About Initiate Systems

Initiate Systems, Inc. enables organizations to strategically
leverage and share critical data assets. Its master data management
(MDM) software and experience as an information exchange leader
provide organizations with complete, accurate and real-time views of
data spread across multiple systems or databases, even outside the
firewall. This allows companies to unlock the value of their data
assets for competitive advantages or operational improvements.
Initiate Systems operates globally through its subsidiaries, with
corporate headquarters in Chicago and offices across the U.S., and
Toronto, London and Sydney. For more information, visit
www.InitiateSystems.com.

Initiate Systems, Inc.
Maria Diecidue
312-395-1345
mdiecidue@initiatesystems.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008