SAN JOSE, Calif., May 5, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Vianeta Communications, Inc., a leading provider of XML-based software solutions for health information management, has appointed Carol B. Somer, director, corporate communications. Somer will be based at Vianeta's Milpitas, Calif. headquarters.
Vianeta helps hospitals and clinics improve efficiency, accuracy, safety and quality; maximize HIPAA compliance; reduce costs; and optimize revenue cycles through the automation of medical dictation, speech recognition, transcription and chart distribution processes.
"We are excited to have Carol join us in this newly created role," said Sanjay Bajaj, executive vice president, corporate development. Somer will report to Bajaj and lead Vianeta's strategic and tactical marketing and public relations, as she did in her previous position as corporate communications director for Bridge Medical (Solana Beach, Calif.).
"Carol's successful marketing and public relations track record, tremendous drive and enthusiasm will help us as we continue to enhance the Vianeta Harmony brand. Her talents and 25 years' communications experience are already being put to use to advance Vianeta to customers, partners and the media. In addition, Carol's passion for promoting the use of health information technology to maximize efficiency, quality and safety, promises to be a significant asset to Vianeta and its customers."
Somer was instrumental in promoting Bridge in the patient safety arena. In addition to enhancing its partnerships with the National Patient Safety Foundation, the National Alliance for Health Information Technology, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), she helped launch the Patient Safety Officer Society. After AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC) (King of Prussia, Penn.) acquired Bridge, Somer served as marketing liaison to ABC, later leaving to form CBS Communications serving such clients as NPSF and AMN Healthcare, Inc.
Somer was also corporate communications director at APACHE Medical Systems, Inc. (McLean, Va.), until Cerner (Nasdaq:CERN) acquired APACHE's decision support technology. Prior to APACHE, she was director of strategic communications for jeTECH DATA SYSTEMS (Camarillo, Calif.), which marketed enterprise software to Fortune 1000 customers and has since been acquired by ADP, Inc. Before jeTECH, Somer managed MarCom and customer partner relations for Health Data Sciences (San Bernardino, Calif.), now Per-Se Technologies (Nasdaq:PSTI).
Somer's communications career began at what is now Boston (University) Medical Center (Mass.), where she handled media and community relations, wrote for various publications, and managed health fairs and other special events for the hospital and dental school. A member of the National Press Club and PR chair/board member for Health Care Communicators of San Diego (the local affiliate of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development), Somer is a native New Yorker who studied at Brooklyn College, Boston University and the New England School of Art and Design (Boston).
About Vianeta
Vianeta Communications is the premier provider of XML-based solutions for health information management. Vianeta's dictation, transcription, speech recognition and document scanning products unify health information into digital patient folders, enabling automation of expensive paper-based HIM processes - thereby advancing patient care. More than 160 North American hospitals utilize Vianeta products for clinical documentation, revenue cycle management and clinical data applications.
On the Net: Vianeta site: http://www.vianeta.com