The place to be for healthcare IT Shopping: there's no denying—the HIMSS 2006 exhibit is the place to be in February to see the latest in healthcare IT

Health Management Technology, Jan, 2006

It's see-and-be-seen time at HIMSS--the Magilla of healthcare IT trade shows and conventions. This year, the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference and Exhibition in February expects to draw almost 800 exhibitors and more than 23,000 attendees to 325,000 square feet of space at the San Diego Convention Center. That's the size of six football fields.

Known for its massive exhibit hall that makes comfortable Walking shoes a must, the HIMSS exhibit hall typically provides the industry's broadest and most comprehensive look at available healthcare IT. This year should be no exception, as everyone from end-users to payers and from providers to media reps comb long corridors in search of the latest information technology.

This month, Health Management Technology provides a sampling of the fare being showcased at HIMSS in San Diego. See you there in February.

To help physician practices go digital and eliminate paper-based processes, e-MDs provides integrated practice management and electronic medical records (EMR) technology. The company's eMDs Solution Series is a multimodule suite led by e-MDs Chart, an EMR with SOAP note formatted clinical documentation integrated with ICD, CPT and HCPCS coding, plus prescription management, referral management and automated E&M coding, e-MDs Schedule supports patient, equipment and physician scheduling at single and multiple locations, while e-MDs Bill offers practice management, claims management, billing and reporting capabilities. Daily clinical activities and workflow are managed by e-MDs Tracking Board, that offers a one-screen view of the whole day with scheduled appointments, patient flow through the practice, outstanding messages and nurses' orders. The company also offers technology for automated document management, charge capture, task and message management, and the practice of evidence-based medicine through a clinical rules engine.

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Labor costs can constitute as much as 60 percent of a healthcare organization's budget, so api Software Inc. offers a suite of products to streamline management and administration of employee information. The company provides time and attendance, staffing/ scheduling, payroll, human resources, productivity management, education tracking and access control software. Founded in 1982, api Software has more than 400 installations in the United States, with customers ranging in size from 500 employees to more than 30,000 employees. The company's flagship product, Payrollmation time and attendance system, automates a healthcare organization's unique and complex pay policies and applies these pay policies in a fair and consistent manner, even across multiple physical locations.

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Carstens Inc. will showcase products designed to help clinicians document at the point of care. Prominent in the line are WALLaroo wall-mounted workstations with sizes and configurations to fit the tightest or largest of wall spaces. The original WALLaroo, WALLaroo 2000 and WALLaroo 2000XW--and their economonically-sized Half-a-Roo and Half-a-Roo 2000 counterparts--accommodate a variety of charts, notebook PCs and keyboards with full closure of the mounted units. The WALKaroo III Mobile PC Cart can handle a full-size keyboard and any laptop computer, and includes a left- or right-handed pull-out mouse tray. Height is adjustable, and its contoured base was designed for walking behind it. It comes with power pack options, locking casters and a lockable work surface for securing notebooks. Carstens offers a hands-on experience with their equipment at HIMSS, so stop by Booth 7108.

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HSS, an Ingenix company, develops and markets solutions to streamline coding, compliance and reimbursement at both provider and payer organizations; its products also are embedded in other suppliers' software. WebStrat is a Web-native and scalable application for provider organizations, geared to ensure that all coders and HIM staff see, share and use the same coding and compliance policies, guidelines and processes--whether they work at the main enterprise facility, a remote location or at home. It supports more than 30 state or payer-specific payment systems with both logic-based and book-based encoding. WinStrat is the desktop version that runs on Windows 95/98/2000 or NT, and can operate standalone or be integrated with an organization's existing HIM software. The company's APC Assistant is a reference resource for billing staff that service Outpatient Prospective Payment System financials. See these and other solutions for chargemaster accuracy, code look up and code set access, payer contract management and PPS reimbursement at Booth 2729.

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Picis delivers solutions for high-acuity care--the emergency department, the operating room, the intensive care unit and critical care. Picis systems are installed in more than 900 medical centers and integrated delivery networks worldwide. The company's product line includes software for total perioperative automation and specific automation for ED, the OR, anesthesia documentation, bed management and patient scheduling. In 2004, Picis merged with ibex, a provider of emergency department systems, and now offers Ibex PulseCheck, Web browser-based software that combines triage, patient tracking, physician and nursing documentation, risk management, charge management, integrated voice recognition and prescription writing features for ED personnel as well as seamless data sharing between the ED and the hospital's existing HIS.