Emdeon, Inc., one of the largest health information networks in the nation focusing on clinical exchange and a provider of healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions, has selected IBM in a master patient index software licensing deal.
IBM Initiate Patient will enable Emdeon to deliver real-time patient information at the point of care.
The first phase of the multi-phase project between Emdeon and IBM will reportedly focus on medication reconciliation, electronic prescribing data and the patient's medical history; all delivered to authorized healthcare providers to help improve patient outcomes.
"Emdeon's leading health information network sustains a tremendous amount of data from the majority of patients, providers, pharmacies and payers in the U.S.," said George Lazenby, chief executive officer for Emdeon, in a statement.
Lazenby said that this data can give healthcare providers important information about their patients at the point of care.
“IBM Initiate Patient gives us the ability to produce a portable, powerful and accurate healthcare record within our existing nationwide network to enable the healthcare industry to leap forward in its pursuit of patient-centric healthcare," he said.
IBM Initiate Patient touches 80 percent of the population of North America. Relied upon by more than 100 healthcare systems, more than 40 health information exchanges and many of the nation's largest retail pharmacies,
"The accurate patient identification provided by IBM Initiate Patient is a pre-requisite to exchanging clinical information among the distinctly different stakeholders participating in a health information network like Emdeon's," said Sean Cassidy, director, healthcare products, information management at IBM Software Group.
Cassidy said that the company is excited to be part of Emdeon's efforts to transform how healthcare is delivered by providing better access to information.
Recently Emdeon announced the expansion of its technology solutions to power the exchange of clinical information for healthcare stakeholders industry wide.
The clinical information exchange services leverage Emdeon's network to deliver real-time patient information at the point of care when it is needed most. The expanded services will provide patient information to authorized healthcare providers to help improve outcomes by identifying gaps in care and creating medical utilization alerts and will assemble a virtual view of patient information.
Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Tammy Wolf
