VANCOUVER, BC and BURLINGTON, Vt., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IDX Systems Corporation and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) announced an agreement today to provide IDX Carecast(TM) Patient Accounting software functionality to VCH, the largest academic health organization in Canada. VCH plans to implement Carecast’s integrated clinical and financial capabilities in six of its facilities, serving 75 percent of its comprehensive health system and encompassing 1,800 beds. In addition, the agreement provides VCH the option to deploy Carecast Patient Accounting functionality across its eight other acute care hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities.
Carecast is a fully integrated clinical, financial and administrative system that automates clinical processes, advances patient safety through computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and wireless barcoding, and provides fully integrated patient accounting and administrative functionality. By automatically generating charges from clinical activities, the integrated Carecast system captures comprehensive billing information, enhances analysis and reporting and minimizes lost data -- helping staff and clinicians to save time. The contract with VCH represents the first sale of Carecast Patient Accounting capabilities in Canada.
Under a previous contract, VCH is currently is rolling out Carecast’s clinical capabilities to three acute care facilities: Vancouver General Hospital (769 beds), University of British Columbia Hospital (381 beds), and Richmond Hospital (176 beds); as well as to the George Pearson Centre (outpatient care), Minoru Residence Extended Care facility, and the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre, all located in Vancouver and Richmond. This new agreement adds the use of Carecast Patient Accounting capabilities to these facilities and provides the option to use the accounting functionality across the entire VCH system.
The organization’s selection was based in part on IDX’s ability to tailor patient accounting for the Canadian healthcare system, as demonstrated by its previous track record in adapting clinical and administrative functionality for VCH, as well as tailoring registration functionality for healthcare facilities in the United Kingdom. The selection was also influenced by VCH’s existing successful relationship with IDX. VCH has been an IDX clinical software customer since 1996. (All VCH contracts with IDX pertain to the use of IDX software at VCH facilities; IDX does not process VCH patient data.)
“IDX has an outstanding track record for providing us with the clinical tools we need to deliver the highest quality patient care,” said Greg Feltmate, CIO of VCH. “Now, by introducing Carecast’s integrated clinical and financial functionality across some of our largest facilities, we look forward to benefiting from a clinically generated revenue cycle -- where clinical events automatically produce appropriate cost information in our system. By automatically accounting for charges every time a physician completes a procedure or a nurse administers a medication, our system will give us a more complete picture of the cost of care delivery, while streamlining direct patient billing capabilities.”
“By minimizing lost charges and eliminating much of the need for manual data entry, the Carecast Patient Accounting application will further allow VCH to streamline its direct patient billing functions across our entire organization,” said Fred Chan, Regional Director, Financial Operations. “We are excited about the prospect of performing patient billing, resident trust accounting and cashiering on the integrated Carecast system in the very near future.”
Although Canada’s patient care is government-funded, 9.2 percent of VCH revenues result from services or patients not covered under the government healthcare programs. In addition, VCH will use Carecast Patient Accounting to manage trust accounts and perform cashiering services for patients in its many care facilities. The trust accounts application will provide an efficient tool for VCH to administer and account for funds in these trusts with VCH to pay for day-to-day necessities. Integration with the clinical modules of Carecast will eliminate duplicate handling of data and make the trust account information more accessible to the front-line staff if required.
VCH sees its use of Carecast to support patient accounting needs as complementary to its goals in advancing quality of care and patient satisfaction with the healthcare experience. Using Carecast’s clinical capabilities, VCH will realize the benefits of an integrated CPOE technology solution which allows physicians to enter orders electronically, eliminating risks inherent to illegible handwritten orders and reducing the risk of medication errors.
“Patient safety has become one of the Region’s key strategic directions,” said Vivian Eliopoulos, VCH Director of Clinical Information Systems. “With Carecast, we are realizing our goals of providing our clinicians the access to the information they need to support the delivery of quality patient care, while giving them the functionality to make work processes more efficient and cost-effective.”
“VCH is a leader in the Canadian healthcare industry, and we are proud to support their initiatives in both the clinical and financial arenas,” said Mike Raymer, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IDX Carecast Operating Unit. “We are committed to helping our customers deliver the highest quality and most cost effective care, and we welcome the opportunity to further support healthcare improvement efforts in Canada.”
About Vancouver Coastal Health
VCH is responsible for the delivery of approximately $1.9 billion in acute, residential and community care to over one million people in communities from Richmond through Vancouver, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky area, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
About IDX Systems Corporation:
Founded in 1969, IDX Systems Corporation provides information technology solutions to maximize value in the delivery of healthcare, improve the quality of patient service, enhance medical outcomes, and reduce the costs of care. IDX supports these objectives with a broad range of complementary and functionally rich products installed at 3,300 customer sites. Customers include 138,000 physicians who utilize practice management systems to improve patient care and other workflow processes. IDX Systems are installed at:
380 integrated delivery networks (IDNs) representing more than 500 hospitals 175 large group practices with more than 200 physicians 665 mid-size group practices with less than 200 physicians
The IDX web strategy includes browser technology, e-commerce and web-based tools -- built using Internet architecture -- that facilitate access for patients, physicians and care providers to vital health information and data managed by the IDX clinical, administrative, financial, and managed care products. IDX has approximately 2,100 full-time employees worldwide.
About Carecast
Carecast is a fully integrated clinical, financial and administrative system, combining core clinical processes for orders, results, pharmacy and clinical documentation with administrative and financial processes for scheduling, registration, admitting, charging and billing. Representing the next generation of electronic clinical information solutions, Carecast delivers unsurpassed response time and reliability to support fast-paced clinical environments. The system automates workflow throughout the healthcare enterprise and enables rapid access to patient records across the care continuum, from admission to discharge, including inpatient and ambulatory care. The result is a comprehensive lifetime patient record that enhances the quality of care and promotes operational efficiencies.
Developed by and for providers -- in collaboration with leading hospitals, clinicians and healthcare executives -- Carecast builds on 25 years of innovation with the IDX LastWord enterprise system. Customers include leading healthcare organizations in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
IDX, Carecast and LastWord are registered trademarks or trademarks of IDX Investment Corporation.
This press release contains forward-looking statements about IDX Systems Corporation that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are uncertainties or difficulties in developing new services, including Carecast, possible failure of IDX to realize the benefits of developing clinical guidelines, difficulties in implementing systems, possible deferral, delay or cancellation by customers of computer system or service purchase decisions, possible delay of system installations and service implementations, development by competitors of new or superior technologies, changing economic, political and regulatory influences on the healthcare and e-Commerce industries, possible disruptions in the national economy caused by terrorist activities and foreign conflicts, changes in product pricing policies, governmental regulation of IDX’s software and operations, the possibility of product-related liabilities, and factors detailed from time to time in IDX’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which important factors are incorporated herein by reference. IDX undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time.
Margo Happer, IDX Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications 802-859-6169 margo_happer@idx.com Catherine Sweeney Media Relations IDX Systems Corporation 206-607-5462 catherine_sweeney@idx.com Viviana Zanocco Media Relations Officer Vancouver Coastal Health viviana.zanocco@vch.ca 604-708-5282 office 604-612-8053 cellular
IDX Systems Corporation
CONTACT: Margo Happer, Director, Investor Relations and CorporateCommunications, +1-802-859-6169, margo_happer@idx.com, or Catherine Sweeney,Media Relations, +1-206-607-5462, catherine_sweeney@idx.com, both of IDXSystems Corporation; or Viviana Zanocco, Media Relations Officer, VancouverCoastal Health, +1-604-708-5282, mobile, +1-604-612-8053,viviana.zanocco@vch.ca
Web site: http://www.idx.com/