Emergisoft Helps Healthcare Prepare for the Unexpected; Emergisoft Provides the Solution for America's Emergency Departments' Responsiveness to Bioterrorism Threats

Business Wire, Oct 18, 2001

Business Editors

ARLINGTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2001

With the nation and the healthcare industry focused on the overwhelming concern of the preparedness of the country's already crowded emergency departments to effectively handle the possible bioterrorism attacks currently affecting the country, an Arlington, Texas software company is prepared to respond.

A significant amount of governmental paper work and red tape is currently required in connection with all patient visits to Emergency Departments, even in the case of diagnosis of anthrax exposure in a bioterrorism attack. There is an increasing shortage of nurses and specialist physicians willing to serve on-call in bioterrorism situations. Symptoms of anthrax and other diseases, which could be possible tools of bioterrorism attacks, mimic the symptoms of the common flu. Emergisoft, a leader in the design and implementation of clinical patient management systems for hospital Emergency Department automation, has an electronic solution to help alleviate the problems just mentioned.

With reports of anthrax exposures threatening states across the country, the threat of bioterrorism is becoming a harsh reality for hospitals nationwide. Being able to provide data on recent patient visits in a timely fashion and recognize the symptoms is next to impossible unless automated electronic systems are in place to collect point-of-care clinical patient information. Although many hospitals have computerized systems to track the flow of patients, fewer than 10% have installed the systems capable of collecting the data that is essential in the proactive effort against the diseases most likely to be utilized in bioterrorism.

Many hospitals are trying to survey their data manually for all patients that have been treated with particular symptoms since the first reports of anthrax exposures, notably in New York, Washington, D.C. and Florida, due to recent incidents, but most metropolitan cities are polling such data and working with health departments as well.

Emergisoft has devoted the past 12 years to developing a clinical data management software for emergency departments which aids in the process of providing local health departments with the essential data in an extremely timely fashion. Emergisoft has developed the CareLyncED(TM) system and other applications, currently used in Emergency Departments nationwide, including St. Vincents, Winthrop University and Mount Sinai in New York and St. Elizabeth in New Jersey to track patients and handle bedside charting for both nurses and physicians using handheld devices or bedside workstations for fast data collection. The system is superior in its template methods of data collection allowing for quick recognition of possible trends such as a broad-scale outbreak.

Emergisoft's Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Jim Williams, who also serves as an active reserve Colonel and Deputy Commanding General in the United States Marine Corp with the I Marine Expeditionary Force Augmentation Command Element (I MACE) out of Camp Pendleton, said, "For the past two weeks, much of the media's focus has been on our nation's healthcare systems inability to handle possible biological or chemical attacks. This is not something new, but as a country, we grew complacent and never thought this could happen in our own backyard. Now the threat is becoming a reality and we're not prepared. Currently, less than 2% of the nation's Emergency Departments are prepared to properly handle this type of threat. The problem is the massive amount of paperwork involved, the time it takes to process and respond to the paperwork and the inability for all the country's Emergency Departments to interact. Emergisoft's CareLyncED(TM) software package eliminates this problem by reducing the time consuming paperwork, while providing physicians and nurses the ability to communicate and properly respond."

Williams added, "Next Tuesday, October 23, Emergisoft will launch the 'Emergisoft Disaster Management Solutions' package. This will provide Emergency Departments across the country consultation regarding preparedness for biological or chemical contamination, supply of portable decontamination units, data collection system with guides for disaster management, and design and layout of departments in hospital facilities for their disaster management units."

Dr. Ronald Hellstern, a 30-year emergency physician and Emergisoft's Vice President of Medical Affairs, added, "Reported diseases, such as anthrax and other biological and chemical induced diseases, are not monitored on the state level, not the national level. Once the patient is seen, a report is filed with the state Health Department and then sent to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. This is a three to four week process, creating an unnecessary delay in the correct treatment of the patient, the correct diagnosis of the symptoms and recognition of trends such as a regional or nationwide outbreak. With Emergisoft eliminating the paper work, by utilizing electronic medical records, the physicians have the capability to instantly capture the data, recognize common symptoms and correctly treat the patient on the spot."