TAMPA, FL--(Marketwire - February 21, 2011) - Sage Healthcare Division, a unit of Sage North America and a major provider of electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software and services, has announced plans to integrate HIE-enabled technology through a partnership with HealthUnity's health information exchange (HIE) solution.
Sage, which serves more than 400,000 healthcare professionals including approximately 80,000 physicians in North America, will integrate the HIE solution into a version of Sage Intergy to be released later this year, but will showcase a working prototype of the HIE cloud technology in the Sage's booth (#1713) during the HIMSS 2011 exhibit in Orlando, Florida, February 21 through 23.
Sage will conduct a live demonstration of the HIE at HIMSS to show patient data transmitted through Sage Intergy, giving physicians immediate access to information that can improve quality of care and medical decision making. Because of the healthcare expertise of those attending HIMSS, Sage is seeking direct feedback from conference goers as a way to ensure that the product is designed to meet users' specific clinic and practice needs. In addition, the demonstration at HIMSS is to provide potential users of the system the opportunity to realize and evaluate the benefit of an integrated EHR and HIE solution that Sage Intergy will offer.
"Integration between Sage Intergy EHR and HealthUnity's HIE will make it easier than ever for hospitals and hospital-owned practices to connect to physicians using Sage solutions," said Betty Otter-Nickerson, president of Sage Healthcare Division. "The combination of electronic health records and an HIE solution is key to improving patient care and reducing healthcare costs for everyone."
"Additionally, the combined solution provides better information mobility and enhances connection between care settings and care givers, and patients and their physicians," Otter-Nickerson said.
By integrating with HealthUnity, Sage will expand on its already robust capability to connect to healthcare communities using standards-based protocols. In addition to connecting with existing HIE infrastructure, Sage will be able to work alongside HealthUnity to deploy end-to-end HIE infrastructure to hospitals, accountable care organizations (ACOs) and other healthcare organizations planning to deploy HIE and EHR technology across a community of care.
Benefits of the integrated Sage Intergy and HIE system include:
- Putting information at clinician's finger tips -- allows appropriate treatment to begin faster
- Supporting better clinical decision making
- Improving patient safety -- reduced risk of adverse drug reactions and knowledge of co-morbidities reduces risk of incompatible treatments
- Minimizing the need for duplicate tests and procedures and reduces patient inconvenience and stress, time and cost
- Reducing risk -- transparency reduces need for "defensive medicine"
The partnership between Sage and HealthUnity will allow the HIE to deliver secure, interoperable, standards-based information exchange between clinical and administrative systems at hospitals, hospital-owned practices and independent ambulatory practices using Sage Intergy as its clinical and financial information foundation to thousands of practices and specialty care facilities throughout the United States.
"Interoperability between islands of healthcare data is fundamental to achieving meaningful use and transforming healthcare. At HealthUnity, our focus has always been on delivering the best service-oriented HIE suite. We are honored to partner with Sage to deliver upon this mission," said Prem Urali, CEO and co-founder of HealthUnity. "The partnership between HealthUnity and Sage combines the nimbleness and superior connectivity of our HIE with Sage Intergy's robust and comprehensive EHR capability."
Sage's flagship healthcare offering, Sage Intergy, provides an integrated clinical, financial and administrative solution over a single database with cross-functionality, consolidated reporting and efficient system maintenance. Sage Intergy data is patient-centric and can be shared or isolated across practices and locations, allowing secure access from anywhere to providers and staff. Patients have access to their clinical record and a range of web-based services from the Sage Intergy Practice Portal from anywhere there is an Internet connection.
Sage Intergy features a full complement of integrated clinical and financial EDI services, including claims, remittance, eligibility verification, e-prescriptions and lab results. By using standards-based protocols, Sage Intergy is fully compatible with the HealthUnity's HIE solution.
"With a standards-based system such as Sage's, physicians can focus on their patients, not paperwork, and easily share and integrate information inside and outside of Sage Intergy," said Otter-Nickerson.
Sage has provided healthcare software solutions to streamline patient care for nearly 30 years, and is a leading supplier of business management software and services, serving more than 6.3 million small and midsized business customers worldwide.
About HealthUnity
Founded in 2004, HealthUnity is widely recognized as the best solution for building integrated health information exchanges and health record banks. HealthUnity has deployments across the U.S.
About Sage Healthcare Division
Sage Healthcare Division provides integrated electronic health records, EDI applications and practice management systems to approximately 80,000 physicians and thousands of ambulatory care practices throughout North America. These systems enable physicians and practice managers to better manage their practices and improve quality of care. Sage Healthcare Division is based in Tampa, Fla., and is a division of Sage North America. For more information, please visit www.sagehealth.com or call (877) 932-6301. Follow Sage Healthcare Division on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/SageHealthcare and Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/sagehealthcare.
About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs 4,000 people and supports 3.2 million small and midsized business customers including approximately 80,000 physicians. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,400 people and supports 6.3 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the website at www.sagenorthamerica.com. Follow Sage North America on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/SageNorthAmerica, and Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/sagenamerica.
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Contact Information:
Press Contact:
Scott Rupp
Sage
(813) 249-4264
scott.rupp@sage.com