Philips Collaborates With Microsoft to Enhance Healthcare Efficiencies and Productivity
Combined efforts will spur informatics-driven solutions to address healthcare challenges
Andover, Mass., USA – Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today announced collaboration with Microsoft Corp. to build on Philips Healthcare’s foundation of healthcare informatics and advanced clinical decision support offerings that drive efficiency and effectiveness at the point of care. Working together, the companies aim to integrate technologies that will yield faster delivery of meaningful health information, further improve healthcare efficiency and productivity, and reduce development and infrastructure costs.
“We are driving towards a significant paradigm shift from, on the one hand, simply reporting healthcare analytics to, on the other hand, creating systems which actually provide access to health information when and where it is needed,” said Deborah DiSanzo, CEO, Healthcare Informatics and Patient Monitoring, for Philips Healthcare. “Philips and Microsoft are in a unique position to work together for the betterment of the healthcare system by effectively helping to close the healthcare technology loop.”
The companies share a common vision for advancing healthcare transformation: simplified clinician workflow, better financial outcomes and improved patient care.
“Information is only as powerful as the ability to share it among those that play an integral role in patient care,” said Tim Smokoff, general manager of Worldwide Health at Microsoft. “This collaboration is a step toward integrating different sources of information, and then providing actionable knowledge in clear, useful formats that suit the needs of the different people who are working to improve care at the point of care.”
At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2010 Conference & Exhibition, Philips and Microsoft are showcasing two works-in-progress born of their collaboration: integration of Philips VISICU’s eICU® Program with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and SharePoint 2010 Beta; and Philips IntelliVue XDS, which is being adapted to run on Windows 7.
Philips VISICU eICU Program
The Philips VISICU eICU Program is an integrated healthcare solution for remote, 24-hour monitoring of critically ill patients. Philips, in collaboration with Microsoft, is showcasing a conceptual Critical Care Analytics Portal designed to support executive decision-making.
Being demonstrated for feedback at HIMSS10, the eICU Program/SharePoint solution seeks to aggregate critical patient information in a way that can be easily accessed, seamlessly shared and simply utilized. Combining users’ familiarity with Microsoft interfaces and SharePoint’s strengths, the solution aims to create a standardized front-end analytics portal to display information from the Philips VISICU eICU Program database and enables executives to view, share and analyze ICU data relating to their health system’s operations.
“In today’s data-intensive, fast-paced critical care environment, specialists often make critical life and death decisions for the patients under their care,” said Curtis Veal, M.D., Critical Care and eICU Medical Director for Swedish Medical Center. “We continue to utilize advanced systems like the eICU Program that facilitate shared access to both clinical and operational data for optimal delivery of patient care.”
Philips IntelliVue XDS
Philips and Microsoft will also demonstrate technology interoperability with a look at the first of Philips’ patient monitoring connectivity products, currently being adapted to run on Windows 7.
Philips IntelliVue XDS Clinical Workstation provides fast, convenient access to patient-focused clinical information from hospital IT systems on Philips IntelliVue monitors. XDS creates a flexible, customizable clinical workspace, combining patient monitoring views and IT applications, with the ability to interact freely among them to optimize patient care. By leveraging the user-friendly capabilities of Microsoft Windows 7, IntelliVue XDS will allows users the ability to launch multiple third-party IT applications within the familiar Windows environment.
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified Health and Well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs more than 116,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of US$32.3 billion in 2009, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
National eHealth Collaborative Launches NHIN University
Washington, DC (March 2, 2010) – National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) today announced the creation of “NHIN University,” a program designed to educate and engage health IT stakeholders on efforts to develop the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).
The inaugural semester of NHIN University will feature a series of webinars intended to provide stakeholders with foundational knowledge about what the NHIN is, how it works, and the vital trust fabric that underpins the safe and secure exchange of health information. One of the most important qualities of NHIN University classes will be the ability for stakeholders to interact with their “professors,” providing real-time, real-world reactions to the information presented.
Iron Mountain Delivers Enhanced Cloud Storage for Medical Information; Latest Version of Digital Record Center® for Medical Images Offers Greater Scalability, Security and Utility for Healthcare Organizations
Visit Iron Mountain at the HIMSS 2010 Healthcare IT Conference & Exhibition in Booth #8555
BOSTON (March 1, 2010) – Iron Mountain Incorporated, (NYSE: IRM), an information management services company, today announced an enhanced version of its Digital Record Center® for Medical Images, a cloud storage service for backing up and archiving digital medical information. Now offering greater levels of flexibility, scalability, access and security, the new hybrid cloud service adds an optional onsite storage component to complement its existing cloud service. The combination allows healthcare organizations to configure the service to meet their specific access and disaster recovery requirements.
Eclipsys Introduces Open Platform to Transform Health IT and Drive Electronic Health Record Adoption
Helios By Eclipsys™ Marks Fundamental Shift from Closed, Proprietary Systems; Powers the New Release of Eclipsys Sunrise Enterprise 5.5 to Help Hospitals Meet ARRA Meaningful Use and HIMSS Analytics Stage 7
Atlanta – March 1, 2010 – Underscoring its rich tradition of healthcare technology firsts, Eclipsys Corporation (NASDAQ: ECLP) today announced the release of Helios by Eclipsys™, an industry-defining open architecture platform designed to deliver vendor choice and flexibility to a sector grappling with lagging technology adoption and soaring costs. Moving away from traditional, proprietary operating systems, Eclipsys™ is opening up its platform to provide certified third-party companies open, secure access to common services and visual and data integration. Through Helios by Eclipsys™, healthcare organizations can now utilize best-of-breed applications in an integrated environment with Eclipsys enterprise solutions. The result is reduced costs, enhanced ability to embrace and extend current technology investments, and removal of the technology innovation constraints caused by waiting for a single vendor’s development timeline.
“The tension that exists in healthcare information technology has been between best-of-breed and enterprise solutions. CIOs have had to choose between providing clinicians the applications that are specifically targeted at them, or an enterprise solution that provides comprehensive access to data and lowers the cost of ownership,” said Philip M. Pead, president and chief executive officer of Eclipsys. “CIOs should be able to provide their clinicians with a choice without having to worry about managing the overhead of multiple vendors, maintaining multiple interfaces and having to ensure data integrity. Eclipsys now gives them that choice. Helios by Eclipsys™ delivers the solution by offering a seamless ecosystem of health information technology where hospital CIOs can have real choices, third-party applications developers can accelerate innovation, and clinicians can focus on the patient, not data entry.”
Open Platform Brings Game-Changing Opportunities for Other Vendors, Too
Eclipsys is offering software development kits to enable clients and third parties to natively write applications on the Helios by Eclipsys™ platform, which will eliminate the need for interfaces thereby dramatically lowering the cost of technology ownership. Eclipsys already is working with several partners to build applications on the Helios by Eclipsys™ platform, including Microsoft; Health Care Systems, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare software, including HCS Medication Reconciliation; Capsule Tech, Inc., the worldwide leading provider of medical device connectivity; and Hill-Rom IT Solutions, a leading manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and best known for its “smart” hospital beds.
“When you consider that nearly 20 percent of a healthcare IT project’s budget can go toward interfacing disparate software applications and devices with the other core enterprise systems, an open platform is a powerful value proposition for hospitals,” said Adam McMullin, vice president of Hill-Rom IT Solutions. “The ability to integrate directly with Helios by Eclipsys™ means we will be able to provide a lower cost, more effective and safer solution to clients, while accelerating the data and workflow benefits of our products, like NaviCare® WatchChild® or our Hill-Rom smart beds, which are designed to provide real-time patient data to clinicians in a way never before possible.”
“Monolithic platforms are one of the major issues facing our sector because they limit the ability to innovate, not to mention interfaces are tedious and treacherous,” said Greg Walton, chief information officer ofEl Camino Hospital. “You don’t find closed models in any other sector, yet in healthcare there still is this prevailing approach of, ‘If you just buy everything from us you will be okay.’ The more we can exchange data while lowering costs the better for the patient and the caregiver. I believe in this fundamental business change by Eclipsys to open up its software. This is going to help the U.S healthcare system in the long run by accelerating the speed of innovation.”
Sunrise Enterprise 5.5 Delivers a Meaningful Solution for Meaningful Use
The introduction of Helios by Eclipsys™ is packaged with the new release of Eclipsys’ Sunrise Enterprise™ 5.5, which features a rich suite of solutions wrapped by a highly intuitive user interface. Representing the most significant uplift to Eclipsys’ leading electronic health record solution, Sunrise Enterprise 5.5 has been specifically crafted to help healthcare organizations in meeting the expected “meaningful use” requirements of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA), as well as achieving Stage 7 in the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model. From screens to icons, the user experience has been completely transformed into a customizable workspace that is tailored to the way medicine is practiced. Specific design features offer clinicians the ability to open and work in multiple patient charts while easily customizable alerts, which are based on physician experience, help to prevent alert fatigue. The underlying technology also will dynamically adjust as it learns more about the user’s specific workflow preferences.
”This announcement today is only the beginning,” continued Pead. “Our proven, reliable applications have earned our clients the distinction of leading the industry in CPOE adoption. In addition, Eclipsys clients represent more than 80 percent of the U.S. News & World Report ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ and outperform our peers in composite performance across all CMS quality measures. Helios by Eclipsys™ and Sunrise Enterprise 5.5 will enable Eclipsys clients to set the pace for the next decade.”
About Eclipsys
Eclipsys is a leading provider of advanced integrated clinical, revenue cycle and performance management software, clinical content and professional services that help healthcare organizations improve clinical, financial and operational outcomes. For more information, see www.eclipsys.com or email info@eclipsys.com.