Press Releases
RelayHealth’s Results Distribution Service Connects Care Providers and Consumers with Actionable Data at HIMSS 2008
Leading health providers to deliver online clinical results to medical practices to foster strong hospital-physician-patient relations and high-quality care
ATLANTA, Feb. 25, 2008—─RelayHealth, the leading provider of healthcare connectivity services, announced its new Results Distribution Service (RDS) to meet market demand for the electronic distribution of clinical results and other patient care documentation in real time from hospitals to participating physician practices. The secure RDS transmission gives physicians actionable access to the most current data for making informed decisions, sharing with referring doctors to promote collaboration and communicating with patients to enhance interaction and self-care. RDS will be shown in the RelayHealth booth #2663 at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2008 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 25-29.
RDS replaces outmoded and time-consuming fax, phone and paper delivery methods by using a standards-based electronic data exchange to aggregate and transmit laboratory results, radiology studies, discharge summaries and other text results from hospital systems to affiliated physician offices.
“Healthcare will eventually evolve to a consumer/retail model. Patients increasingly want data access, personalized information, and convenient follow up. RelayHealth supports the information flow between providers and patients required to provide end-to-end collaborative care,” said Jim Bodenbender, senior vice president and general manager, RelayHealth. “Our newest connectivity offering, RDS, extends that critical capability by empowering providers with a tool that guarantees infallible delivery of ‘time to data,’ promotes health and wellness and facilitates the engagement of patients, improving workflow processes supported by existing hospital and physician information systems.”
Several prestigious health systems have signed RDS agreements in the past 120 days:
- Atlantic Health, Morristown, N.J. – one of the largest non-profit healthcare systems in New Jersey and includes Overlook Hospital in Summit and Morristown Memorial Hospital
- Baptist Healthcare System, Inc. , Louisville, Ky. – acute-care hospital system with 1,500-plus owned beds throughout Kentucky and a managed 300-bed acute-care hospital
- Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, Calif. – not-for-profit medical center renowned for Centers of Excellence in Orthopedics, Cardiology and Oncology in Coachella Valley
- Hill Physicians, San Ramon, Calif. – more than 3,000 participating physicians and healthcare providers offering the most extensive HMO healthcare network in northern California
- John Muir Health – comprising John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek Campus, and John Muir Medical Center, Concord Campus, serving Contra Costa County and Greater East Bay, Calif.
- Methodist Medical Center, Peoria, Ill. – 330-bed hospital with more than 500 board-certified physicians experienced in family care, emergency medicine and 36 specialties
- OhioHealth, Columbus - faith-based, not-for-profit family of 16 hospitals and 17 ambulatory sites serving a 46-county area in central Ohio
- Saint Luke’s Health System, Kansas City, Mo. – faith-based, not-for-profit health system of 11 hospitals and multiple physician offices
- Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, Wyo. – 205-bed, not-for-profit, acute-care regional hospital with 150 physicians in the center of Wyoming
Saint Luke’s Health System physicians are the first to adopt RDS, and already they are realizing its value to physicians and patients.
“RDS will effectively connect our health system with physician affiliates and bring the patient into that results review loop,” said Carl Dirks, M.D., chief medical information officer, Saint Luke’s Health System. “The patient, at their physician’s discretion, has the information instantaneously. We’re quickly seeing a positive response from Internet-savvy patients because they are getting direct feedback in a way they find preferable and easy to understand. Doctors can add annotations for clarification and personalize the analysis from the lab to the patient situation to encourage better communications.”
The hospital delivers the results through RelayHealth’s “software as a service” (SaaS) actionable Web messaging platform in which the company hosts and operates Web-native software for customers’ use over the Internet. The physician can then securely exchange the information with the patient or with other physicians for further collaboration. Additionally, the results data can be delivered directly to the medical practice’s electronic medical record (EMR) or a Web browser.
About RelayHealth
RelayHealth, McKesson’s connectivity business, operates as a neutral partner in an open network environment, offering connectivity services and integration among all organizations, systems, and solutions. Its intelligent network is designed to streamline clinical, financial and administrative communication between patients, providers, payors, pharmacies and financial institutions. RelayHealth works to accelerate the delivery of high-quality care and improve financial performance through solutions such as online consultation of physicians by patients, electronic prescribing, point-of-service pharmacy claims resolution by payors, pre-visit patient financial clearance by providers, and post-visit provider bill settlement by payors and patients. RelayHealth securely processes more than 10 billion financial and clinical transactions annually. For more information, call (800) 778-6711, or visit our Web site at www.relayhealth.com.
Media Contacts
Janeen Cook
(770) 237-7918
Janeen.Cook@relayhealth.com
