ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Medstat, a business of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), held its annual customer conference, Connection 2004, May 2-5, 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona. The conference showcased customer successes using integrated clinical, financial, operational and market data to drive decision-making in organizations ranging from large Fortune 500 employers to small, rural hospitals. Two clear themes -- focus and collaboration -- emerged from the conference as key ingredients for successful improvement in healthcare. Conference keynotes and each of the over 60 Medstat customer case studies presented demonstrated very tangible evidence that these two ingredients, when coupled with the use of reliable information, produce more effective outcomes, including reduced medical errors, improved quality, adherence to medical best practices, and alignment between the mission of an organization and its staff and partners.
Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania was selected from among seven finalists as the first Medstat Innovator Award recipient. The award recognizes organizations who demonstrate significant management effectiveness in healthcare, through the application of information-driven initiatives. The health plan’s recent initiative to improve quality by establishing measurement criteria and standardized reports to improve physician performance was honored.
Former Minnesota Senator David Durenberger opened the conference with a challenge to end 30 years of healthcare reform efforts that have yielded little improvement. He proposed attendees consider “inside out” reform, characterized as healthcare delivery that is consumer-focused, collaborative, and centered on the patient/provider relationship at the local level. The ideas espoused by Senator Durenberger were subjected to vigorous debate in a subsequent conference-wide forum hosted by Arthur Miller. The noted author, Harvard Law School professor, and television commentator facilitated a roundtable discussion of Medstat customer thought leaders from large employers, health plans, hospitals, and state Medicaid agencies. The discussion -- while pointing out shortcomings in the United States healthcare system -- began to surface insights on how true healthcare reform and the industrialization of healthcare can be advanced.
“With the widespread implementation of information driven decision making, we are moving closer to a healthcare system that provides safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable, and patient-centered healthcare,” said Carol Diephuis, Medstat Senior Vice President and Connection 2004 conference host. “I was encouraged to see that our customers are already using Medstat information to move in that direction. For example, one hospital customer spoke on how her facility recently collaborated with competing organizations to significantly improve the quality of care received by cardiac patients, regardless of the facility where they were treated.”
Medstat (http://www.medstat.com/ ) is a healthcare information company that provides market intelligence and benchmark databases, decision support solutions, and research services for managing the cost and quality of healthcare. The company applies these capabilities to improve policy and management decision making for employers, government agencies, health plans, hospitals and provider networks, and pharmaceutical companies. Medstat is a business within The Thomson Corporation. The Thomson Corporation (http://www.thomson.com/ ), with 2003 revenues of $7.6 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of scientific research and healthcare, law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC).
Medstat
CONTACT: Kelly Tolson of Medstat, +1-734-913-3707,kelly.tolson@thomson.com
Web site: http://www.medstat.com/
