CHICAGO, April 28, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Covisint, a Compuware (Nasdaq:CPWR) company, announced that Covisint and Vermont Blueprint for Health together were named "Innovation Award" winners by Microsoft Health User Group (MSHUG) at the Microsoft Connected Health Conference. The award recognizes clinical and technical effectiveness for improving patient care. Covisint powers the central registry, clinical decision support and care team portal used by the Vermont Blueprint for Health's statewide care improvement initiative.

Industry experts selected winning entries based on three key innovation metrics:

1. technology representing a breakthrough from the industry's historical approaches;

2. going beyond incremental improvements of existing technology; and,

3. measurable improvement of significant business and/or clinical processes positively impacting care.

The Vermont Blueprint--which works to improve the healthcare of all Vermonters as well as the statewide healthcare system--showed impressive gains in both quality and efficiency utilizing Covisint technology. Early results show a slowing growth rate for hospital discharges and emergency department visits for patients treated in the Advanced Primary Care (medical home) setting supported by Vermont Blueprint for Health. After being in place for more than one year, these programs saw growth rates drop by 15 percent to 25 percent.

"Technology that improves individual- and population-based care processes is essential to support well-coordinated health services, including our Learning Health System, which continues to improve based on objective measures," said Craig Jones, M.D., Director, Vermont Blueprint for Health. "Our ability to improve the health of our state's residents is an integral part of Vermont's health reform landscape. In this time of rapid healthcare change, our teams on the ground and in the community push hard every day to improve care, and it is working! This innovation award recognizes their dedication and drive to make a positive difference."

The Vermont improvement is consistent with the experience of other customers that achieve dramatic care improvement after deploying the Covisint platform. Beyond the Vermont initiative, care improvement enabled by Covisint includes reducing the percentage of diabetic patients with poor glucose control from 26 to 12 percent in four months. Additionally, compliance with medication therapy improved significantly for patients with persistent asthma requiring controller medications. Within a year, 76 percent of the patients were complying with their medication regimen, up from just 43 percent.

"Healthcare reform will increasingly focus on and reward healthcare outcomes," said Brett Furst, Vice President of Healthcare for Covisint. "Vermont Blueprint for Health is a shining example--and a model for other states to follow--regarding how Covisint helps customers achieve desired outcomes and move the needle on health performance measures."

"The 2011 Microsoft HUG Innovation Awards honor health organizations that are making tremendous strides in the transformation of health delivery in this country," said Steve Aylward, General Manager of U.S. Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft. "Each of this year's winners clearly demonstrated the innovative use of IT to improve traditional business or clinical processes and, as a result, positively impact patient care within their organization." 

Microsoft HUG, now in its 14th year, is a leading health industry forum for exchanging ideas, promoting learning and sharing stories of successful use of Microsoft technologies. Microsoft HUG has grown to more than 9,000 members and 34 sponsors and is growing. Covisint was announced a winner on April 27 at the Connected Health Conference in Chicago.

Vermont Blueprint for Health

The Vermont Blueprint for Health is a vision, a plan and a statewide partnership to improve health and the health care system for Vermonters. The Blueprint provides the information, tools and support that Vermonters with chronic conditions need to manage their own health – and that doctors need to keep their patients healthy. The Blueprint is working to change health care to a system focused on preventing illness and complications, rather than reacting to health emergencies.

Covisint, a Compuware Company

Covisint, a Compuware company, enables information ecosystems that quickly revolutionize organizations by providing secure communication and collaboration between people and systems in remarkably simple ways. Covisint is a recognized cloud computing pioneer driving the on-demand revolution that helps organizations connect, communicate and collaborate with their partners--enabling anywhere, anytime information. The Covisint ExchangeLink™ platform provides industry-specific services for identity management, collaborative portals and data exchange, as well as a third-party application marketplace. Learn more at www.covisint.com.

The Covisint Logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7150

Compuware Corporation

Compuware Corporation, the technology performance company, provides software, experts and best practices to ensure technology works well and delivers value. Compuware solutions make the world's most important technologies perform at their best for leading organizations worldwide, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies and 12 of the top 20 most visited U.S. web sites. Learn more at: http://www.compuware.com.

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/compuware.

The Compuware logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5950