HIMSS Exhibitor Showcase - Industry Trend or Event

Health Management Technology, Jan, 2001

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference February 4-8 will give healthcare professionals their first look at many information management products and services that might just help their organizations provide better patient care and save time or money. Here are some vendors to consider visiting. Keep in mind, some companies may be introducing brand new systems that they haven't told the press about yet; others may demonstrate systems that have been successfully implemented within the past year or so, but offer you the opportunity to consider them for your organization. We have also provided the booth numbers.

High-risk Patient Identification

MEDecision adds CaseAlert[TM] to its care management product suite. CaseAlert[TM] allows MCOs to identify patients who could immediately benefit from case and disease management to improve clinical and cost outcomes. MEDecision's other care management solutions include: integrated case, disease and utilization management; Internet certification and referral management; provider profiling and quality analysis.

MEDecision, Inc., Wayne, PA, www.MEDecision.com HIMSS Booth No. 3341 Circle 213

Patient Satisfaction

QuadraMed provides information technology and consulting services that enable healthcare organizations and medical providers to improve patient satisfaction while meeting their business goals. Through constant vision and innovation, QuadraMed has maintained leadership in meeting the changing needs of the healthcare industry. QuadraMed employs 1,180 healthcare and technology experts serving more than half of the nation's hospitals.

Some of the products/systems offered are AFFINITY[R] Healthcare Information System; Electronic Document Management; Decision Support; Coding, Grouping and Data Collection; Record Management; Compliance Auditing Tools; MPI Duplicate Prevention Management; and EZ-CAP[R] Managed Care Information System.

QuadraMed Corp., San Rafael, CA, www.quadramed.com HIMSS Booth No. 5648 Circle 185

Coding, Compliance, Reimbursement

With expertise in medical encoding, reimbursement, data management and health policy research, HSS, Inc. develops coding, compliance and reimbursement software and services.

EASYGroup[TM]: designed for IT vendors to implement coding and PPS as embedded solutions in their applications.

WinStrat[R]: a desktop system incorporating coding, reimbursement and compliance in a modular system. Wrapped in an intuitive GUI, the system promotes consistency and coordination among departments and ensures accuracy. Modules include:

* AccuCode[R]: an expert system offering logic- and dictionary-based encoding options.

* APC/DRG STRATEGIST[R]: a reimbursement management system providing tools for comprehensive payment and contract management. It supports inpatient and outpatient case-based and non-PPS payment systems.

* Clinical Documentation Guidelines: this prospective compliance tool addresses complex coding requirements for the most frequently upcoded, highest volume and problematic codes.

* Ambulatory Care Editor (ACE): comprehensive documentation and software to help users manage the unclear rules of the APC payment system.

HSS, Inc., Hamden, CT, www.hssweb.com HIMSS Booth No. 1650 Circle 180

Perioperative Management System

Medical Systems Management, Inc. (MSM) offers an advanced suite of software solutions that provide managers with fast and convenient access to critical data. These tools improve efficiency and save money by allowing healthcare organizations to minimize costs and maximize resources. Available in Windows[R] and MAGIC, these applications integrate fully with the organization's HCIS and with each other. Look no further than medSURG, a state-of-the-art perioperative management system, successfully installed in hundreds of facilities across the U.S. and Canada. medSURG automates each step of the perioperative process from scheduling to billing, and pays for itself by improving the use of operating room time, cutting costs and reducing waste and inventory expenses. MSM also provides systems for hospital-wide tracking, medical staff credentialing, quality management, dietary management and more.

Medical Systems Management, Wakefield, MA, www.med-sys.com HIMSS Booth No. 4814 Circle 181

Managed Care System

RAM Technologies delivers Web-based solutions to HMOs, PPOs, IPAs and other managed care organizations that facilitate HIPAA compliance and e-Health. RAM's solutions leverage the proven scalability, reliability and performance of IBM's DB2[R] Universal Database with the latest Internet tools, including IBM WebSphere[R], and IBM Visual Age[R] for Java. HEALTHsuite[R], our fully integrated managed care administrative system, supports multiple corporations and lines of business, including Medicare, Medicaid, commercial and point-of-service.

HEALTHsuite's relational database was designed using the ANSI X12 standards, making it the only repository capable of capturing the data required for HIPAA compliance. eHealthsuite, RAM's Internet self-service application, allows members, providers, employers and brokers to access information and conduct transactions in real-time, through a link from the health plan's website. As transactions are processed by eHealthsuite, data is instantaneously updated to HEALTHsuite, or the health plan's administrative system, for seamless e-health connectivity.