RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Healthcare, part of The Thomson Corporation and the leading provider of healthcare decision support solutions that improve clinical and business performance outcomes, today announced that Spectrum Laboratory Network, a full-service regional clinical laboratory, will deploy MercuryMD across its affiliated network of hospitals in North Carolina and Tennessee. With these solutions from Thomson Healthcare, Spectrum's physician clients will be able to access critical laboratory results and patient information faster and more conveniently, helping them to make better decisions at the point of care.
Spectrum processes more than 11,000 laboratory orders a day for in-patient and out-patient medical care. With MercuryMD from Thomson Healthcare, more than 20,000 doctors in the network will have immediate access to test results and all laboratory data relevant to a given patient via a smartphone or PDA, regardless of location. This service will also be available to all independent physicians and physician groups within Spectrum's five-state market.
"Aggressive use of information technology is a fundamental strategy that lets us continually add to the value that our network delivers to patients and physicians -- improving the quality of patient care, decreasing response times to lab results, and reducing costs and medical errors," said Nate Headley, president and chief executive officer, Spectrum Laboratory Network. "Seventy percent of decisions that physicians make are based on lab results. With MercuryMD from Thomson Healthcare, those results are delivered to doctors quickly, wherever those doctors happen to be when the results are available. By un-tethering the doctor from the computer terminal we are delivering our lab results to clinicians at the point of care -- resulting in better, timelier and more cost-effective clinical decisions."
Doctors can access the service by having it installed by Spectrum representatives on their smart phones or PDAs for continuity of patient care. All data is encrypted and password protected to protect patient privacy.
"Spectrum has one of the best reputations in the laboratory industry and we are delighted to be working with them to improve how physicians access the information they need to deliver the best care to their patients," said Jay Katzen, senior vice president, Thomson Healthcare. "Spectrum's physician customers will have direct wireless access to their patients' lab and test results anytime, anywhere there is internet or mobile connectivity. We look forward to working with them to ensure they experience immediate benefits of accessing real-time information with unprecedented speed, saving them time and money, while reducing the possibility of errors."
About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com) is a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges .
About Spectrum Laboratory Network
Spectrum Laboratory Network is a full-service regional medical laboratory headquartered at 4380 Federal Drive in Greensboro, NC. Spectrum provides laboratory services for three major health systems in North Carolina including High Point Regional Health System and Moses Cone Health System as well as in Tennessee to include the four-hospital Wellmont Healthcare system. In addition, Spectrum markets its laboratory testing services to physicians, hospitals, home health agencies, insurance companies, and healthcare clinics throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. Spectrum, noted for providing superb customer service reflecting its extensive Hospital relationships, has sustained extraordinary annual growth rates for more than six years to become the leading regional laboratory services provider in the Southeast.
With over 1,200 employees, Spectrum presently serves its clients from multiple locations across the five-state market areas. The consolidation of laboratories of the three major Hospital Health systems has given Spectrum the opportunity to lower healthcare costs while expanding its comprehensive services. For more information, please visit www.spectrumlab.org.
Thomson HealthcareCONTACT: Angela Jenkins, Public Relations Manager of Thomson Healthcare,+1-303-486-6531, angela.jenkins@thomson.com; or Jen Fugel of Kwittken &Company, +1-646-747-7145, jfugel@kwitco.com, for Thomson Healthcare
