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SKAGGS COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER DEPLOYS FUSION FROM CAREFX

New Solution Presents Aggregated Patient Information in Single, Unified View; Delivers Increased Clinical Efficacy and System Efficiency

 

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - July 11, 2006. Carefx Corporation today announced that Skaggs Community Health Center, recently named among the top five percent of hospitals nationwide for clinical excellence by HealthGrades, has deployed Fusion from Carefx™ to deliver streamlined and secure access to aggregated patient data throughout the177-bed hospital and health center located in Branson, Missouri. Skaggs has initially rolled out Fusion in the emergency department where efficient workflow and quality care depends on the ability of nurses, physicians and staff to quickly access patient information stored in multiple, disparate applications. With Fusion, critical patient data, regardless of the application it resides in, is presented in a unified view, giving clinicians a holistic look into any given patient's medical history, medication orders and clinical notes in seconds.

 

Skaggs has recently made the transition from a paper hospital to a fully digital environment with electronic charting. As part of that process, the hospital has been implementing CCOW-enabled applications and wanted to ensure that moving between these new applications, including those for clinical documentation and medication orders, would be fast and seamless for nurses, physicians and staff. In addition, the hospital wanted to reduce the amount of time between when a patient event was initiated, when it was entered into the system and when that information was available to clinicians.

 

With Fusion, data is aggregated at the user-interface level, removing the cost-intensive, resource-draining effort of back-end data integration. After a clinician logs into an individual application and selects a patient, encounter or observation, Fusion automatically finds and links related patient information in all other applications and presents a patient's complete medical record in a single, simplified view. Skaggs has implemented the Fusion Desktop solution to seamlessly integrate GE Logician-outpatient, CIS-inpatient documentation system and Stockell Orders. The initial deployment in the emergency department took three months start to finish and the solution will be rolled out to additional departments, including Critical Care, over the next several months.

 

"At Skaggs, we are committed to consistently making IT improvements that not only deliver system efficiency, but also help our clinicians improve overall patient safety and deliver quality care," said Paul Rucker, technical business analyst at Skaggs Community Health Center. "As we made the transition from paper charting to a fully digital hospital, we wanted a system that did more than just give access to information. With Fusion, the critical applications clinicians use to diagnose, treat and monitor patients are fully integrated, enabling nurses, physicians and staff to quickly and securely find the information they need. The implementation of Fusion was conducted flawlessly, and in a timeframe that, quite frankly, is uncommon in the HIT world. What struck us was the professional, thorough and no-nonsense methodology that the Carefx team used to bring us live — they worked with us to define our goals and objectives, devised a plan to attain those goals, and executed on the plan on time and on budget. The result is less down time for clinicians, increased clinical efficacy and improved patient safety, the hallmarks of leading healthcare organizations."

 

"Like many hospitals today, Skaggs recognized that in order to get full value out of their clinical applications, they had to make these applications easy for clinicians and staff to use," said Andrew Hurd, chairman and CEO at Carefx. "With Fusion, Skaggs is making the process of accessing patient data both fast and secure, ensuring that clinicians and staff always have the most up-to-date information available at their fingertips."

 

About Fusion from Carefx

Fusion from Carefx is the first Patient Information Aggregation platform designed specifically for the healthcare provider environment as an alternative to the heavy lifting of back-end data integration. Fusion from Carefx's open, scalable architecture and standards-based approach makes it the preferred aggregation solution of industry leaders, including CA, Cerner, GE Medical Systems, McKesson, Novell and Siemens Medical Solutions. Today, more than 200 hospitals in the United States and internationally use Fusion from Carefx.

 

About Carefx Corporation

Carefx is the only provider of an open and scalable Patient Information Aggregation platform that provides clinicians real-time access to information residing in disparate applications. Extending the value of Single Sign-On (SSO) technology with context and identity management, Fusion from Carefx® aids clinicians with sleek, intuitive and flexible access to patient information and satisfies IT imperatives by fully leveraging legacy investments within an open architecture. For more information, visit www.carefx.com.

 

About Skaggs Community Health Center

Skaggs is a not-for-profit, community-owned hospital. It has been providing healthcare services to the residents and visitors of Taney, Stone and adjoining counties since January 1950. As a not-for-profit institution, Skaggs channels any profits back into the health center's operating fund to update equipment and facilities. Skaggs receives no tax support. For more information, visit http://www.skaggs.net.

 

Contact Information:

Albert Fong or Marisa Dulyachinda
Schwartz Communications for Carefx
415-512-0770
carefx@schwartz-pr.com

 

Skaggs Community Health Center
Kim Hollingsworth
Marketing Coordinator
(417) 335-7371
KRHolllingsworth@skaggs.net

 

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